Suspect identified in Capital One hack

The FBI has identified Paige Adele Thompson as the suspect accused of hacking Capital One’s system, accessing credit card applications and compromising personal data of more than 100 million people in the U.S. and Canada.

Thompson, 33, is facing a U.S. federal charge of computer fraud and abuse after being arrested in Seattle on Monday. The agency said her online bragging created a trail of breadcrumbs which inadvertently helped lead agents to her.

According to the complaint, FBI honed in on Paige after information from the hack was found on a Thompson-linked profile page on GitHub, a website for sharing and collaborating on software code.

Capital One revealed the massive data breach in a news release on July 29, 2019. The bank says it does not appear that the hacker had used the stolen information for fraudulent purposes, but investigators will continue to look into it.

Thompson’s roommate, Park Hung Quan, was also arrested after admitting to FBI agents that a large arsenal of weapons found inside the house belonged to him. The court documents in Quan’s case reveal that, according to prosecutors, Thompson had threatened to commit a mass shooting at a social media company in May of 2019, and had also threatened to commit suicide-by-cop.

Capital One’s CEO, Richard Fairbank said, “While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened. I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right.”