There’s no bigger tech/financial news today than the story of the Capital One hack that has compromised some 100 million user accounts and associated sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, birth dates and more.
An FBI arrest June 29 identified the suspected culprit as Paige Thompson, a 33-year-old software professional who used the moniker “erratic” on social media. Thompson had previously had access to Capital One servers.
As you might expect from a programmer, the press reported Thompson stowed away data on GitHub and used trendy messaging platform Slack to brag about her conquest.
However, although Thompson reportedly referred to the “Capital One ‘dox’,” there still aren’t many clues as to why Thompson would, as she put it on social media, “strap on a bomb vest” in the form of releasing the data.
While the Capital One hack only exacerbates the fear and perceived liability that traditional financial companies face, it didn’t touch the Bitcoin world.
In the wake of the reports, investor commentators were noting how decentralized systems would have prevented this kind of data debacle.
“No one has ever hacked Bitcoin,” said Anthony Pompliano according to Cointelegraph reports July 30. “It is the most secure computing network in the world.” Co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, Pompliano has been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin, and one of many who believe that the blockchain tech and consensus model under BTC mean that it is resistant to many of the ills that the conventional banking community fears.
Stay tuned as law enforcement ponders the potential motives of an individual who would callously leak so much personal data, and the investment world looks at what parts of our financial landscape are likely to be as safe as keeping money under a mattress.
