Capital One hacker indicted by authorities for illegal cryptocurrency mining, crypto-jacking operations

In the latest update from the Capital One illegal cryptocurrency mining case, hacker Paige Thompson has been indicted for stealing data, in addition to using stolen computer power for crypto-mining activities. Thompson has also been accused of crypto-jacking. As crypto-mining activities require large amounts of computing power and hardware, Thompson had designed a scanning software to organize a mining business.

Through this software, Thompson accessed data of a number of victims, with the main objective being the of exploitation of users’ data. Users having misconfigured firewalls on Capital One’s servers were the primary targets of Thompson’s plan.

Attorney Brian T. Moran charged the former software engineer on the counts of wire fraud, computer fraud and abuse by the intrusion into Capital One data and more than 30 other entities. The indictment also identified victims from different backgrounds, such as a state agency, a telecommunications conglomerate and a public research university.

Capital One was alerted right after Thompson shared information about the theft of data from its servers with a Github user. The indictment charged Thompson with penalties amounting to 25 years of imprisonment.