Category Archives: Medibank

Australia sanctions Russian citizen Aleksandr Ermakov over 2022 Medibank cyber-attack

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Government uses cyber sanctions powers under Magnitsky laws for first time to target Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, alleged to be responsible for hack

Australia has used its new cyber sanctions powers for the first time against a Russian citizen, Aleksandr Ermakov, in connection with the Medibank Private data breach.

Magnitsky-style sanctions laws that were introduced in Australia in late 2021 include a world-leading measure to allow the imposition of Australian travel bans and asset freezes on those allegedly involved in “significant” cyber-attacks.

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Australians increasingly concerned about online privacy after high-profile cybersecurity breaches

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After massive hacks at Optus and Medibank, survey from information commissioner finds three-quarters of people feel data breaches are among biggest risk to privacy

Australians are more concerned than ever over the handling of their personal information and want tough laws to protect them after the Optus and Medibank cybersecurity breaches, a new study has found.

The latest Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, released on Tuesday by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found three-quarters of Australians feel data breaches are one of the biggest risks to privacy they face. That is an increase of 13% since the survey was last conducted in early 2020.

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Medibank hackers announce ‘case closed’ and dump huge data file on dark web

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The size of the data file suggests it may be the full trove of hundreds of thousands of customers’ private records that were stolen from the health insurer

The cybercriminals behind the Medibank cyber-attack have posted on the dark web what appears to be the remainder of what customer data they took from the health insurer, stating it is “case closed” for the hack.

On Thursday morning, the blog – which returned online after several days of being offline last week – posted “Happy Cyber Security Day!!! Added folder full. Case closed.” and included a file that has several compressed files amounting to over 5GB.

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Medibank hackers release 1,500 more patient records on dark web, including mental health data

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Company says leak includes details on chronic conditions such as heart disease and people with cancer and dementia

Russian cybercriminals have released a fifth tranche of stolen data from the private health insurer Medibank, including the details of treatment for mental health.

The company’s chief executive, David Koczkar, on Sunday confirmed the hackers, who obtained the records of millions of current and former customers in a ransomware attack last month, had released the details on the dark web.

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‘Really poor form’: Medibank yet to contact hundreds of customers with leaked personal data

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Customers whose personal details – but not medical information – were posted online have been left in the dark by health insurer

As a cybersecurity worker, it didn’t take Chris* long to find his Medibank data in a dump posted to the dark web last week, but he didn’t learn about it from the health insurer.

“It’s been about a week now and Medibank have still not informed me that my data is in that dump,” he said.

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Medibank mental health data posted on dark web as Russian hackers vow to ‘keep our word’

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Group releases file containing hundreds of customer claims as government considers banning ransom payments for cybercrime

Medibank customer data related to claims for mental health treatment are the latest to be posted on the dark web by the Russian hacker group.

On Sunday night the group posted a file on its dark web blog labelled “psychos”, which contains hundreds of claims from policyholders that appear to be related to mental health treatment.

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Government considers making cyber ransom payments illegal after Medibank hack

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Minister Clare O’Neil says health insurer was right not to pay ransom, even as hackers threatened to release more customer data to dark web

It could soon be illegal for companies that fall victim to data breaches to pay ransoms to the hackers.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, confirmed the government was examining whether new laws were needed to stop ransom payments in the wake of the Medibank and Optus data breaches.

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Medibank hack: Clare O’Neil says new cybercrime operation will hunt down ‘Russian thugs’

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Officials drawn from AFP and the Australian Signals Directorate to form ‘joint standing operation’ against cybercriminal syndicates

Australia has awoken from a cyber “slumber” and will “day in, day out hunt down the scumbags” who have stolen the health data of nearly 10 million Australians, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has said.

After the Russian embassy complained it had not been informed the Australian government would publicly accuse Russian cybercriminals of being behind a hack on private health insurer Medibank, O’Neil did not resile from publicly blaming Russians for the hack.

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Covid cases surge nationally as ‘fourth wave’ hits – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Albanese on Xi Jinping: ‘we will no doubt be at the same meetings’

Will Anthony Albanese meet with China’s president Xi Jinping in the coming week? He’s staying mum.

What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we can, but we of course will maintain our Australian values where we must. So dialogue is always good, a meeting is not locked in at this point in time. But we will no doubt be at the same meetings. The East Asia summit, the G20, and Apec is going to be a busy time in international diplomacy.

Now this act is just disgusting, targeting women who have had a pregnancy termination is about as cowardly as you can get.

I just want to say to those women this morning, we hear you, we are with you, and we love you. If you need help, please reach out and we are absolutely determined to target the criminals who have done this disgusting act.

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