Karim Baratov, the Canadian man accused in Yahoo hack, pleads guilty in American court
(The Star Fashion & Style)

A Canadian man pleaded guilty in an American court Tuesday to nine charges stemming from a massive breach at Yahoo that authorities said was directed by Russian intelligence agents and affected about 500 million user accounts.Karim Baratov appeared in a jail jumpsuit before a U.S. federal judge and entered the pleas to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and eight counts of aggravated identity theft. He gave “yes� and “no� answers to questions from the judge about his pleas, but said nothing more.U.S. law enforcement officials have called Baratov, 22, a “hacker-for-hire� and said he was paid by members of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, to access more than 80 accounts.The U.S. Department of Justice said Baratov used spearphishing schemes that would trick victims into entering their account credentials into webpages he built to appear to be from their webmail providers.Once he obtained their log-in information, he would send it to his clients, the statement said.“Cybercrime is not only a grave threat to personal privacy and security, but causes great harm to individuals who are hacked and costs the world economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year,� district attorney Brian Stretch said in a statement.“These threats are even more insidious when cyber criminals such as Baratov are employed by foreign government agencies acting outside the rule of law.�Baratov’s lawyers told reporters outside court that their client hacked only eight accounts and did not know that he was working for Russian agents connected to the Yahoo breach.Read more: Alleged Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov waives extradition to go straight to U.S. to face prosecutionAccused Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov to stay in custody after bail decision upheldParents of alleged hacker in disbelief over U.S. charges“He’s been transparent and forthright with the government since he got here,� said law ...