Russian hackers

The Justice Department has an unnerving but familiar explanation for the data breach of 500 million Yahoo accounts. Russian spies teamed with criminal hackers were behind the massive break-in.

It’s not hard to see a larger pattern in the pilfering. Moscow is probing the weak points in this country’s tech world for its own advantage, a strategy that only adds to the suspicions that it interfered in the November election.

The Yahoo break-in in 2014 is considered one of the biggest ever. It wasn’t disclosed by the company until last year and further soured the flagging company’s fortunes. Its announced buyer, Verizon, is reducing the purchase price because of the data breach.

But the intrusion marks a new level of cyberthievery as a foreign policy tool. In the indictment, two agents of the KGB successor agency were named along with a pair of hackers for hire. Their mission was to gather intelligence on U.S. and Russian officials using Yahoo, with the hackers allowed to avoid jail and keep the purloined data for sale.

The indictment isn’t likely to produce more than an illuminating look at cyberthievery. The Russian spy agency duo remain in Moscow and out of Washington’s reach. One of the two hackers was arrested in Canada, while the second suspect is reportedly in Russia.

The Yahoo charges follow prior Justice Department charges against five Chinese military officials believed behind hacks of U.S. corporate and government accounts.

The real effect of the latest charges should be a sharp warning to President Trump, who has played down Russia’s interference and cozied up to President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader, a former KGB agent, surely knew about the Yahoo break-in. The White House can’t ignore such illegal behavior.