Cybersecurity
Here’s How Russian Agents Hacked 500 Million Yahoo Users
- The U.S. government accused Russia of masterminding attack
- Officials said contents of 6,500 email accounts were read
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It was June 2013, and U.S. law enforcement thought they were finally getting their hands on a slippery target: Russian hacker Alexsey Belan, indicted in Nevada and California for computer intrusions at three U.S. e-commerce companies, had been arrested in Europe.
Instead, Belan escaped to Russia, where the U.S. charges didn’t hamper his job prospects. Rather than handing Belan over to the U.S., Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) enlisted the man to help the agency hack into American Internet companies, including Yahoo! Inc.