INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Australia has identified the Russian mastermind behind a crippling cyber attack, unmasking the 33-year-old hacker for the first time on
Tuesday and linking him to an international crime syndicate.Hackers infiltrated Australian private health insurer Medibank in November 2022,
stealing sensitive medical records and leaking them on the dark web.Among the 9.7 million customers caught up in the high-profile cyber
long suspected Russian hackers were behind the breach, which had previously been tentatively linked to the REvil ransomware
Russian citizen Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, who has also been hit with first-of-their-kind cyber sanctions."This is the first time an
Australian government has identified a cyber criminal and imposed cyber sanctions of this kind and it won't be the last," Home Affairs
Medibank hackers started leaking private health records on the dark web after the company, one of Australia's largest private health
insurers, refused to pay a multi-million dollar ransom.The leaks were selected to cause maximum harm, targeting records related to drug
laws in the wake of the Medibank attack, pledging that the country's intelligence agencies would proactively "hack the hackers."In a
taunting and cryptic reply posted to the dark web, the hackers responded: "We always keep our word."Ermakov, who used the online aliases
blade_runner and JimJones, would now be targeted by a travel ban and strict financial sanctions, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said."This will
Foods, a major food conglomerate.The Australian government confirmed Ermakov was a member of the REvil syndicate.Monash University cyber
crime expert Nigel Phair said proving who was behind an attack was "one of the hardest things to do" in cyber security."This is unlikely to
dissuade other internationally-based cyber criminals from targeting Australian organizations or individuals, but is a step in the right
direction," he said.Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia's intelligence agencies had tracked down Ermakov with the help of the
