Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Yahoo Credential Theft Case

Karim Baratov given prison time and seven-figure fine after guilty plea in the massive Yahoo data breach

One of the most prominent computer hacking cases in recent years reached a new chapter as Karim Baratov was sentenced to five years in prison and fined an amount equivalent to his remaining assets. Baratov, a Kazakhstan-born Canadian citizen, was sentenced for his role in the massive
Yahoo credentials breach
that exposed
more than 1 billion records
to criminals.
Karim Baratov, aka Kay, aka Karim Taloverov, aka Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,
pleaded guilty to nine charges
stemming from the breaches. In addition, he admitted to attempting to hack at least 80 Web mail accounts on behalf of co-conspirators, and to hacking more than 11,000 webmail accounts in total from 2010 through March of 2017.
Baratov was one of
four individuals charged
in the case, the other three being Russian citizens including two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). The other three indicted co-conspirators are Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, and Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, (aka Magg, one the
FBIs most-wanted cybercriminals
), all of whom are currently living in Russia.
Officials from the Department of Justice said in statements that the sentence
reflects the serious nature
of both
the crimes
and the way that the DoJ views nation-state sponsored criminal hacking. Baratov was a hacker for hire who became a resource of the FSB when it came to gathering credentials that could be used for further breaches.
In pre-sentencing motions, Baratovs lawyers had argued that his mercenary nature made him
less
culpable for his crime, because
he didnt know
that he was being hired by the FSB — he would hack an account for anyone. Baratov had claimed that most of his customers were individuals looking for information about the online habits of spouses or lovers, though Department of Justice prosecutors argued that the FSBs request for 80 sets of credentials made the claim less credible in this case.
Ultimately, Baratov was given a sentence that, while lengthy for a cybercrime, was less than the maximum possible under the law. The government had argued for a longer sentence on the grounds that
nation-state hacking
must be considered more serious than average criminal activity.
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Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Yahoo Credential Theft Case