Yahoo Cyber Attack accusal offers clues into Russian Interference on US Elections 2016

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Yahoo Cyber Attack which shocked the entire tech world in 2016 is turning into an interesting saga, as the indictment is offering clues into Russian Interference on US Elections 2016.

Readers of Cybersecurity Insiders have to learn a fact that a low profile prosecution on a 22-year old Canadian hacker is taking place in one of the courts of United States from early this year and the developments are turning into buzzing news feeds.

Sources reporting to Cybersecurity Insiders say that lawsuit is giving clues to US Intelligence officials on Russia’s efforts to disrupt last years US elections and more clues are to follow in coming months.

Last month a US District Court in San Francisco was hearing a case registered against Karim Bartov, a Canadian citizen born in Kazakisthan. He is one among four who are facing charges of launching a cyber attack and compromising more than 500 million Yahoo accounts in 2014 which almost derailed Yahoo’s acquisition by Verizon early this year.

The others indicted in the case include an internationally wanted fugitive who is a Latvian hacker and two members of a cyber unit run by Russian Federal Security Service.

It is learned that one of the FSB hackers is a part of a group funded by Russian Intelligence reportedly jailed for treason( betraying government) in Russia in December 2016.  

According to a Russian media resource, Dokuchaev- an FSB superior is accused of passing critical info about Russian elections to United States Intelligence. Another Russian news resource Interfax says that Dokuchaev and another man were working for US CIA from Russia and were passing data related to the nation’s political landscape to them.

Russian News publication named Novaya Gazeta reports that a person named Mikhailov alerted American Intelligence and media about Russian hackers suspected of penetrating election systems in Arizona and Illinois in 2016 and voting systems in Turkey, Ukraine, and Germany. The news resource added in its report that Dokuchaev was playing a double game by either changing his name as Mikhailov or hiring a virtual person from Russia to lead a server rental firm called “King Servers” based in Russia which was used by Russian state-funded actors to penetrate 2016 US Elections on Russian President’s Vladimir Putin’s official order.

Another hearing on this case will be taken up next month and we can hope more such startling revelations on the above said issue.

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Naveen Goud is a writer at Cybersecurity Insiders covering topics such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Startups, Cyber Attacks, Cloud Security and Mobile Security

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