Now we know who hacked Yahoo in 2014. The hackers compromised over 500 million emails. It’s the biggest cyber attack in IT service history. ?So the company has never been the same. But it isn’t a stoner geek living in mom’s basement. Consequently, it has international ties. Yahoo breach: From Russia, without love.
The US Justice Department charged two Russian intelligence agents with the cyber attack. They also charged one Canadian. The Russian suspects are?Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin. The Canadian suspect is?Karim Baratov. The two Russian defendants also paid off two others to get personal information. That’s why they hacked in the Yahoo accounts. They especially targeted journalists and judges. The third paid defendant,?Alexsey Belan, has a history of cyber crime. In fact, he’s on the FBI’s ‘Cyber Most Wanted’ list.
But wait. There’s more. We hear nothing from?the Russian embassy in the US. We also hear nothing Moscow. Yahoo councilman Chris Masden issued a statement about the Yahoo breach. Masden believes the Russian government sponsored the cyber attacks. The Yahoo hack is allegedly the largest in history. In fact, Yahoo leaders couldn’t even grasp how big the attack was. Attorney General Jess Sessions himself made the announcement. The Yahoo breach even hit their deal with Verizon. It drove the price down by $350 million.
So I will say this. Nothing about cyber crime surprises me anymore. ?For instance, it wouldn’t surprise me if this cyber attack reaches all the way to the Kremlin. In fact, it looks like the indicted men are just fall guys for a bigger cover-up. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for these arrests. Often time, cyber criminals don’t even get caught. So they just keep on and on. But here is what worries me. If the Russian government is behind this, then they can just replace these for suspects like that. And many cyber crooks would be eager to take their place. That’s the real fear. So what can the good guys do about that?