Russian spies INDICTED in Yahoo hacking

March 15, 2017

The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against two Russian spies and two criminal hackers in connection with the heist of 500 million user accounts in 2014.

The United States rarely blames foreign governments for hacks targeting US corporations. Yet in a Wednesday presser, the Department of Justice did just that — announcing indictments against two agents of the Russian FSB spy agency, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, for a 2014 breach of Yahoo that got access to 500 million users’ data.

“They worked ... to steal information including information about individual users and access the private contents of their accounts,” acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said during the presser. “They also targeted Russian journalists, numerous employees of other providers’ networks that the conspirators sought to exploit, and employees of financial services and other commercial entities.”

This is a big deal. The Yahoo hack was one of the largest cyber crimes in history. This is also the first time the US government has ever brought charges against Russian officials for cyber-related crimes. (Two private hackers who allegedly worked with Dokuchaev and Sushchin were also indicted, and one was apprehended on Tuesday.) It speaks to how significant a threat Russian hacking operations have become to Western companies, journalists, and private citizens — and to how the Kremlin has made it a key part of its espionage arsenal.

http://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/15/14934428/yahoo-russia-indictments