2 Russian spies, 2 hackers charged in Yahoo breach

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - The Justice Department announced charges Wednesday against four defendants, including two Russian security services officers, in a mega data breach at Yahoo.

Officials said two of the defendants are Russian FSB officers and the other two are criminal hackers. One of the defendants has been taken into custody in 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 Jeff Sessions.

The defendants are Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and resident; Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and resident; Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka “Magg,” 29, a Russian national and resident; and Karim Baratov, aka “Kay,” “Karim Taloverov” and “Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,” 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada.

The charges arise from a 2014 compromise of Yahoo user accounts and would be the first case brought against Russian government officials.

According to the Justice Department, "the defendants used unauthorized access to Yahoo’s systems to steal information from about at least 500 million Yahoo accounts and then used some of that stolen information to obtain unauthorized access to the contents of accounts at Yahoo, Google and other webmail providers, including accounts of Russian journalists, U.S. and Russian government officials and private-sector employees of financial, transportation and other companies." 

With the Associated Press