Russia Denies Involvement After Yahoo Cyber-Attack Charges

Russia Denies Involvement After Yahoo Cyber-Attack Charges
Highlights
  • The US charged Russian spies, hackers over 2014 Yahoo hack
  • The Kremlin denied any official Russian involvement in cyber-crimes
  • Russian agents were accused of hiring hackers to carry out the attacks
Advertisement

The Kremlin on Thursday denied any official Russian involvement in cyber-crimes after the US indicted two FSB intelligence agents over cyber-attacks on Yahoo that compromised 500 million accounts.

"As we have said repeatedly, there can be absolutely no question of any official involvement by any Russian agency, including the FSB, in any illegal actions in cyberspace," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

The US Justice Department on Wednesday charged two Russian intelligence operatives and a pair of hackers over one of the largest cyber-attacks in history, which began in 2014 with the apparent twin goals of espionage and financial gain.

It was the first time Washington had filed criminal charges against Russian officials for cyber-related offences, and came amid a separate high-stakes investigation into alleged Russian cyber-meddling in the US election.

The Russian agents accused of directing the attack that targeted both US and Russian officials were identified as Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, both members of the FSB, the successor agency to Russia's KGB.

The US said Dokuchaev was an officer in the FSB's Center for Information Security, known as Center 18, which is tasked with investigating hacking and is the FBI's point of contact in Moscow for cyber-crimes.

Dokuchaev, 33, was reported last year to have been arrested in Moscow by Russian authorities on treason charges linked to the US. He is accused of directing the Yahoo hacking along with his superior, the 43-year-old Sushchin.

The two officers "protected, directed, facilitated and paid criminal hackers to collect information through computer intrusions in the United States and elsewhere," acting US assistant attorney general Mary McCord told reporters.

They are accused of hiring two hackers, Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov, to carry out the attacks, which continued until late 2016.

Baratov, described as a 22-year-old Canadian-Kazakh citizen, was reportedly arrested this week on a US warrant in Canada.

Kazakhstan on Thursday said that he had officially given up his citizenship in 2011.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Gmail for Web Can Now Stream Video Attachments
OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T Start Receiving Android 7.1.1 Nougat-Based OxygenOS 4.1 Update
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »