Kazakh-born Canadian hacker pleads guilty in Yahoo hack case

ASTANA. KAZINFORM 22-year-old Kazakh-born Canadian national, Karim Baratov, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a massive breach at Yahoo, Kazinform has learned from the US Department of Justice website.

It is reported that Baratov and three other defendants, two of whom are officers of Russian FSB were charged with "computer hacking and other criminal offenses in connection with a conspiracy to access Yahoo's network and the contents of webmail accounts that began in January 2014".

According to the prosecution, Baratov's role in the conspiracy was to hack webmail accounts of individuals of interest to the FSB and send the passwords to one of the Russians in exchange for money.

Baratov pleaded guilty to 9 charges of the Indictment. As part of his plea agreement, in addition to any prison sentence, he also agreed to pay restitution to the victims, as well as a fine up to $2,250,000 (at $250,000 per count) with any assets he remaining after satisfying a restitution award.

It is also known that Baratov refused extradition to Canada and is currently held in custody in the state of California without bail.

He is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 20.