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.
Zaloguj się, aby dodać komentarz
Inne posty w tej grupie
A preliminary finding into last month’s Air India
In May of 1995, the video game industry hosted its first major trade show. Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was designed to shine a spotlight on games, and every major player wanted to stand in
Robinhood cofounder and CEO Vlad Tenev channeled Hollywood glamour last month in Cannes at an extravagantly produced event unveiling of the trading platform’s newest products, including a tokenize
In the mid-1990s, Hollywood began trying to envision the internet (sometimes called the “information superhighway”) and its implications for life and culture. Some of its attempts have aged better
Ever since AI chatbots arrived, it feels as if the media has been on the losing end o
Aside from the obvious, one of the best parts of the work-from-home revolution is being able to outfit your workspace as you see fit.
And if you spend your days squinting at a tiny lapto
Child psychologists tell us that around the age of five or six, children begin to seriously contemplate the world around them. It’s a glorious moment every parent recognizes—when young minds start
