U.S. charges five hackers in biggest cyber fraud case in nation's history

US prosecutors have charged five men in a massive hacking case, which is being called as 'the largest ever hacking and data scheme breach in the United States'.

Four Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged for running a sophisticated hacking operation in which they allegedly stole more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers.

The men stole the money from a number of major US companies, including Nasdaq, Visa, Dow Jones and JC Penney, over a period of seven years.

According to the BBC, Paul Fishman, US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, called the case 'the largest ever hacking and data scheme breach in the United States'.

Other companies who became victim of the hacking scandal included Heartland Payment Systems, one of the world's largest credit and debit card payment processing companies; French retailer Carrefour; Dexia Bank Belgium; and 7-Eleven.

All five men have been charged with taking part in a computer hacking conspiracy and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.