Australia accuses Russia in data theft

CANBERRA, Australia — Moscow must he held to account for Russian cybercriminals accused of hacking Australia’s largest health insurer and dumping customers’ personal medical records on the dark web, Australian officials said Friday.

Australian Federal Police took the unusual step of attributing blame for the cybercrime that resulted in the personal data of 9.7 million current and former Medibank customers being stolen.

A group of “loosely affiliated cybercriminals” operating like a business in Russia were likely responsible for the Medibank attack as well as other significant security breaches around the world, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said.

The extortionists have been linked to high-profile Russian cybercrime gang REvil, short for Ransomware Evil and also known as Sodinokibi.

Cybercriminals dumped personal medical records on the dark web for a third day on Friday, this time focusing on alcohol-related illnesses, as they pressure Medibank to pay a ransom.

The criminals began dumping customer records Wednesday, including those involving treatments for HIV and drug addiction, which they described as a “naughty” list, after Medibank ruled out paying a ransom for the return of the hacked data.

The focus shifted to terminated pregnancies in Thursday’s dump and on Friday to conditions related to harmful levels of alcohol consumption, in a file the thieves labeled “boozy.” Medical treatment records of more than 700 customers had been published through Friday in what has been described as Australia’s most invasive cybercrime.