More than half a dozen Russian government officials are in the U.S. Justice Department's crosshairs and reportedly may be facing charges for hacking computers at the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The department has gathered enough evidence against the unnamed officials and the case could be brought before a U.S. court by early 2018, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Data pilfered during the hack, and meant to slight Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, was released publicly via WikiLeaks during the campaign.
Organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party reported a number of breaches last year. The infiltrations were believed to be the work of two different Russian groups identified by CrowdStrike as Cozy Bear (aka CozyDuke or APT 29) and Fancy Bear (aka Sofacy or APT 28), working separately, and eventually sparked investigations into Russian interference in the election.
Even if the feds bring charges against the Russian officials, it's unlikely they'll be extradited to the U.S. to be tried.
