Russian cybercriminal Aleksandr Ermakov is the first to be subjected to. A travel ban has been imposed on his movement outside Russia,and targeted financial sanctions make it a criminal offence,punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment and heavy fines,to provide assets to Ermakov,or to use or deal with his assets,including through cryptocurrency wallets or ransomware payments.
Russian Aleksandr Ermakov has been named by the Albanese government as the person responsible for the 2022 Medibank hack that compromised the information of more than 4 million Australians.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Australia had seen the consequences of cyberattacks across the country in recent years – hard on the heels of the Medibank hack,scammers attacked Optus to steal tens of thousands of dollars from people’s bank accounts.
“There is an enormously powerful effect which can be brought to bear in holding cybercriminals to account,and the sanctions that are put in place on Aleksandr Ermakov today and publicly naming him will have an enormous impact on his activities and send a very strong message to cybercriminals around the world that we mean business,” Marles said.
In the spring of 2022,Medibank received a hacker ransom demand for $15 million,with a threat to release the personal data. When the company refused,the hacker made good on the threat and started releasing data of thousands of Medicare policyholders,reportedly including details of treatment for drug addiction and highly sensitive medical procedures. The hack caused huge anger among customers of the country’s largest health insurer and
Eventually,Ermakov was tracked down through the work of the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Federal Police. Little thanks to Russia,whose ambassador first criticised the AFP for failing to provide the Putin regime with Australian intelligence about the hack in late 2022,and when the detailed intelligence was quickly supplied,Moscow sat on its hands.
Russia’s recalcitrance only adds to the daunting realisation that we are in danger of losing the race against cybercriminals:the hackers will never co-operate and,clearly,nor will the states backing them.
According to the Australian Signals Directorate, an increase of more than 300 per cent over the prior year.
Ashwin Ram,cybersecurity evangelist at Check Point Software,says during the past six months an organisation in Australia was attacked on average nearly 700 times a week. We hear about a few,Medibank and Optus being the stand-outs,but many more we don’t.
The Medibank and Optus hacks,followed by last year’s string of cyberattacks on Crown Resorts,Latitude Financial and Dymocks,among others,have been a wake-up call across business and government about upping cyber vigilance. Until now,many companies have not invested enough in cybersecurity technology. That has to change. But government action is necessary to lead the way and enforce basic standards.
The public attribution,either country or person,as shown in the naming of Ermakov as the culprit in the Medibank hack,is a good start. We will have to take the government’s word that such a tactic sends a strong message to cybercriminals around the world. But giving the Russian a head start of 14 months before tracking him down surely blunts the impact of naming the thief.
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