US Accuses Russian Spies of Hacking 500 Million Yahoo User Accounts

The United States government has accused two Russian security-intelligence officials of espionage and hacking into the accounts of 500 million users of the Yahoo website in 2014. Reuters reported on Wednesday, March 15, that the indictment of Dmitry Dokuchaev, an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, and his superior Igor Sushchin was announced during a press conference in Washington. This is the first time the US government has charged Russian officials with criminal acts related to cyberattacks. The US Department of Justice's indictment also mentions Alexey Belan and Karim Baratov. Alexey Belan is at the top of the list of cybercriminals wanted. Baratov, who was born in Kazakhstan and is a Canadian citizen, was arrested in Canada on Tuesday. According to US Department of Justice officials, Karim Baratov's case is currently with Canadian authorities, but Alexey Belan, who was arrested in a European country in 2013, fled to Russia before he could be extradited to the US. The 47-page indictment against these defendants refers to charges such as conspiracy and collusion, computer fraud and abuse, economic espionage, and theft of confidential business information. Reuters writes that these charges are not related to the hacking of Democrats' emails during the recent presidential election in the US, although US officials have also accused Russians in that incident. According to this news agency, Belan used his connections with Russian intelligence agencies in the Yahoo user hacking incident in 2014 to access the Yahoo network and engage in a series of criminal economic activities. Reports indicate that Yahoo's stock value fell by 0.8 percent following the announcement of this indictment.