On Wednesday, the Department of Justice indicted four people for crimes related to a massive hack of email giant Yahoo, including two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), one of the country's intelligence and security agencies. The group allegedly used information stolen in the breach to target a myriad of US and Russian government officials, Russian journalists, and private sector employees, according to the indictment.
As well as showing an attack on a US company allegedly carried out to the benefit of the Russian government, the news highlights the already suspected close links between Russian authorities and criminal hackers.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33 and Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43 are the two FSB officers. Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka "Magg," 29; and Karim Baratov, aka "Kay," 22, are two alleged criminal hackers also included in the indictment. Baratov is a Canadian resident, according to the Department of Justice. The charges include economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.
News of the impending indictment was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday. Judging by the indictment, these charges have nothing to do with the likely Russian interference around the recent US election.
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