Ex-Amazon Worker Convicted in Capital One Hacking

A former Amazon engineer who was accused of stealing customers' personal information from Capital One was found guilty of wire fraud and hacking on Friday.

An anti-hacking law known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act forbids access to a computer without the permission of the owner. She was found not guilty of identity theft.

Ms. Thompson ran an online community for other workers in her industry. She downloaded information for more than 100 million Capital One customers. Her legal team argued that she had used the same tools and methods as ethical hackers who look for software vulnerabilities and report them to companies so they can be fixed.

According to the Justice Department, Ms. Thompson bragged to her online friends about the vulnerabilities she uncovered and the information she downloaded, even though she never intended to alert Capital One. The Justice Department said that Ms. Thompson had access to Capital One's server.

Andrew Friedman said in closing arguments that she wanted data, money and brag.

The case of Ms. Thompson attracted attention from the tech industry. Critics of the law argue that it's too broad and allows for prosecutions of white hat hackers. The Justice Department told prosecutors last month that they shouldn't use the law to pursue cyber criminals.

The jury found Ms. Thompson guilty of five counts of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer. She is going to be sentenced in September.

A lawyer for Ms. Thompson wouldn't say anything about the verdict.

The data was reported to Capital One by a woman who spoke with Ms. Thompson. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Ms. Thompson after Capital One gave it to them.

Capital One didn't have the security measures to protect customers' information The bank will pay $80 million in 2020. It agreed to pay $190 million to people who had their data exposed.

Nicholas W. Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, made the statement. She exploited her mistakes to steal valuable data and sought to enrich herself.