The Misconfigured Cloud Accounts

A former Seattle tech worker built a tool to scan cloud-computing accounts for configuration mistakes. Prosecutors said she used it to get into the systems of more than 30 organisations and download their data, including personal information on more than 100 million customers of a major bank, and that she installed cryptocurrency-mining software on servers she had accessed, sending the proceeds to her own digital wallet. According to prosecutors, she wanted data, she wanted money and she wanted to brag. She was charged with wire fraud, unauthorised access to protected computers, damaging a protected computer, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The defence portrayed her as an ethical hacker who had exposed security holes rather than someone out to profit.