WASHINGTON–While it seems the hackers behind data breaches are never caught and held responsible, courts this week have sentenced two scammers for their crimes.
In U.S. District Court here, Karim Baratov, 23, has been sentenced to serve five years in prison and to pay a fine that encompasses all of his remaining assets. Baratov, who is a Canadian citizen but who was born in Kazakhstan, pleaded guilty in late 2017 to numerous charges, including violating the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as aggravated identity theft, for crimes related to the Yahoo breach that exposed at least 500-million accounts.
According to authorities, Baratov was working as part of a larger group that has been charged with computer hacking, economic espionage and other criminal offenses that includes Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 34, and Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 44, both of whom are alleged to be working with Russia’s FSB. Also indicted was Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, 30. The other three men remain at large.
The four men were behind a breach that lasted from January 2014 to December 2016, according to the Justice Department.
Baratov also agreed to pay restitution to his victims, as well as a fine of up to $2.25 million - $250,000 per count - up to a maximum of all assets that he has remaining, according to the government.
Conviction in England
Separately, in England, a man has been convicted of hacking into more than a dozen businesses, stealing payment card information, running phishing campaigns that spoofed 100 different businesses, selling people's financial details and publishing "how to" guides for hackers and fraudsters has been sent to prison.
Grant West, 26, of Sheerness, England, admitted to multiple offenses, and in court in London was sentenced to serve 10 years and eight months in prison. The judge called West a “one-man cybercrime wave" and noted that £1.6 million ($2.1 million) of cryptocurrency into which he converted his illicit profits remains unaccounted for, according to the BBC.
Authorities said West began trading on darknet sites in March 2015 and ultimately logged more than 47,000 sales from his online shop.