Canberra claims that a Russian national stole 9.7 million health insurance firm clients’ personal information during a 2022 hack and posted it on the dark web.
A Russian organization and five individuals have been sanctioned by Australia for their suspected role in a significant hack in 2022 that stole the personal data of millions of subscribers of a private health insurance company.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the incident harmed millions of Medibank customers whose private and sensitive medical information was stolen in a joint statement with Home Minister Tony Burke and Defence Minister Richard Marles on Wednesday.
Canberra placed sanctions on ZServers and five Russians, including Aleksandr Bolshakov, the entity’s owner, and workers Igor Odintsov, Dmitriy Bolshakov, Ilya Sidorov, and Aleksandr Mishin.
The Russian national were charged with stealing and posting on the dark web the private data of over 9.7 million Medibank health insurance users.
“This is the first time that Australia has imposed cyber sanctions on an entity and the first time Australia has imposed sanctions on those providing the network infrastructure and services that make cyberattacks like this possible”, the statement read.
Giving assets to ZServers or the five sanctioned persons, or using or dealing with their assets, is now illegal under the new sanctions, which carry severe fines or even ten years in prison.
Additionally, the sanctions prohibit people from travelling to Australia.
Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, a Russian national, was also sanctioned by Australia last year for his suspected involvement in a hack on Medibank Health Insurance.
