A Russian national has been sanctioned by the Australian government for his role in a cyberattack that compromised the personal information of more than 10 million Australians.
In October 2022, client data from Medibank, Australia’s largest health insurer, was released by an extortionist, including details of HIV diagnoses and drug abuse treatments, after the company refused to pay a ransom for the personal records of current and former customers.
On Tuesday, the Australian government imposed its cyber sanction powers for the first time against Aleksandr Ermakov after Australian Federal Police and intelligence agencies, with support from undisclosed “global partners” made the link between the Russian citizen and the cyberattack.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the sanctions imposed are part of Australia’s efforts to expose cybercriminals and debilitate groups engaging in cyberattacks.
“In our current strategic circumstances we continue to see governments, critical infrastructure, businesses and households in Australia targeted by malicious cyber actors,” Marles said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We continue to work with our friends and partners around the world to ensure cyber criminals are held to account for their actions and we will relentlessly pursue activities which disrupt their capability to target Australians in the cyber space.”
This sanction makes it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, to provide assets to Ermakov, or to use or deal with his assets, including through cryptocurrency wallets or ransomware payments.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the sanction sends a clear message to cybercriminals.
“There are costs and consequences for targeting Australia and targeting Australians,” she said in a statement.
Melden Sie sich an, um einen Kommentar hinzuzufügen
Andere Beiträge in dieser Gruppe
Every time I read about another advance in AI technology, I feel like another figment
Racist AI-generated videos are going viral on
Scientists are tracking a large gas planet experiencing quite a quandary as it orbits extremely close to a young star – a predicament never previously observed.
This exoplanet, as
Journey with me back to the good old days, if you will. There was a time that, when you’d buy a gadget, it’d come with a sometimes verbose but often helpful “instruction manual.”
Not a q
After more than a week of threats, Elon Musk formally launched the America
TikTok is building a new version of its app for
Copyright lawsuits and ethical debates have led some to say the AI ind
