US Justice Department to Announce Charges against Russians & Canadian in Yahoo Breach

yahoo databreach

The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly set to announce indictments against suspected hackers involved in at least one of multiple hacking attacks against Yahoo that resulted in two of the biggest-known data breaches of all time.

According to a Bloomberg source, U.S. Justice Department officials are expected to formally announcement the indictments on Wednesday against at least one of the hacking suspects.

The source revealed that the accused hackers live in Russia and Canada. The Canadian is likely to face arrest in the United States as Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the US. AT least three of the people are currently living in Russia, according to the unnamed source.

Yahoo has previously claimed that the sweeping breach of 500 million users’ account details from 2014 was the doing of a “state-sponsored actor” with no conclusive evidence to show for it. A CNN law enforcement source has not confirmed if the breach was connected to the Russian government or any other state.

If fingers are pointed at Russian hackers, the accusation will come at a particularly sensitive time of diplomatic relations between the US and Russia. Russia was blamed for the hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), allegedly to increase the chances of the then presidential nominee Donald Trump to win the 2016 US elections.

The former internet giant revealed news of the 2014 breach in September 2016, impacting about 500 million Yahoo customers’ accounts. Another dramatic revelation followed, with Yahoo admitting to a 2013 breach of a billion users’ details. Compromised information included users’ email addresses, dates of birth, scrambled or encrypted account passwords and more.

While the company pinned the 2014 hack on the ‘state-sponsored actor’, Yahoo has been unable to identify the perpetrators behind the 2013 breach.

Last month, Yahoo warned users that their email accounts may have been compromised, for the third time in less than 6 months. The lapses in security have cost Yahoo to the tune of $350 million in its impending sale of being acquired by Verizon.

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