Chinmay Bidkar
16 March 2017, India:
Four people were charged by U.S. officials for Yahoo data breach that happened back in 2014 where over 500 million accounts were compromised. The suspects including two Russian intelligence officers and two hackers have been enlisted.
The suspects of Yahoo Breach are as follows-
- Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and FSB officer
- Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and FSB officer
- Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, 29, a Russian national and resident
- Karim Baratov, 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada
“Cyber crime poses a significant threat to our nation’s security and prosperity, and this is one of the largest data breaches in history,” said Attorney General Sessions. “But thanks to the tireless efforts of U.S. prosecutors and investigators, as well as our Canadian partners, today we have identified four individuals, including two Russian FSB officers, responsible for unauthorized access to millions of users’ accounts. The United States will vigorously investigate and prosecute the people behind such attacks to the fullest extent of the law.
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According to the DOJ, Sushchin and Dokuchaev paid (and “protected”) the two hackers, Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov, to “collect information through computer intrusions in the U.S.”
“We will not allow individuals, groups, nation-states, or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic interests of our companies, or the security of our country,” said acting attorney general Mary McCord, announcing the charges.
“The indictment unequivocally shows the attacks on Yahoo were state-sponsored,” Yahoo said in a statement, responding to the DOJ announcement. “We are deeply grateful to the FBI for investigating these crimes and the DOJ for bringing charges against those responsible.”
Alexsey Belan, one of the alleged hackers involved, has been on the FBI’s most wanted list as per the report by BBC.
Very grateful to the FBI & DOJ for bringing to justice the Russian officials & hackers who led the attack on Yahoo.https://t.co/AQ4qHpPv6C
— marissamayer (@marissamayer) March 15, 2017
Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo is expected to close during the second quarter of this year. Though, Verizon has said that the data breaches may delay ‘some integration of Yahoo with Verizon after the closing.’ (Image- Bleeping computer)