Canadian hacker charged in Yahoo hack could accept US extradition

A Canadian hacker suspected of taking part in the massive 2014 cybersecurity attack on Yahoo might not fight a U.S. extradition request.

Amedeo DiCarlo, the lawyer for accused hacker Karim Baratov, told reporters Friday, according to Reuters, that he is talking with the FBI and U.S prosecutors in Washington about the details of the case. A final decision about whether to fight the extradition request will come at a hearing to be held on July 7, according to DiCarlo.

{mosads}“I don’t want him to serve more time than necessary, it may be that if he were to be exonerated or receive no custodial term in the U.S., he’s serving time here for no reason,” DiCarlo said.

Baratov’s lawyers had previously said that they would fight attempts to extradite their client.

Baratov was arrested in March for allegedly taking part in a cyberattack on Yahoo sponsored by the Russian government. Russian intelligence officials allegedly paid the Canadian hacker to break into 80 email accounts, as a part of a larger project in which they stole data from some 500 million Yahoo accounts, one of the largest-known data breaches of a public company.

Three other people were charged in regard to the attacks — two Russian intelligence agents and Latvian hacker Alexsey Belan.