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Australia experienced several data breaches and ransomware attacks in 2022. High-profile companies such as Medibank and Optus fell prey to alleged organised crime syndicates, which officials believe operate in Russian territories. The Australian government is now demanding that the Russian government take immediate action.
Recently, the secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo, released a statement demanding the Russian government to take immediate action and bring the cyber criminals to justice. “We call on the Russian government to bring those hackers to heel.” Pezzullo added, “conventional law enforcement pressure will curtail Russian hacking activity completely naive. They are not a ‘rule of law’ country.” According to the secretary, the most excellent density of cyber criminals, mainly specialising in ransomware, could be traced back to Russia.
Pezzullo’s statement was released shortly after US secretary of state Anthony Blinken openly accused Russia, specifically the Kremlin, of protecting cyber criminal groups like TrickBot and accused the country of utilising these groups. Blinken also stated that Russia is “a safe haven for cybercriminals.”
According to senior ISMG senior correspondent Akshaya Asokan, “The beginnings of Russia’s trajectory as a cybercriminal sanctuary coincide with economic devastation wrought by the ruble crisis of 1998, a cybersecurity academic who’s now a White House official wrote in 2018. With diminished prospects in legitimate software development and weak law enforcement, many of Russia’s highly educated tech workforce turned to hacking.”
The correspondent also added that the Kremlin soon had access to highly skilled cyber criminals in exchange for allowing them to live freely within Russia. The Russian government has not provided any official statements regarding this. However, Max Roberts, a writer for Go Incognito, reported that the Russian government is actually considering legal exemptions for loyal hackers.
Roberts added that some hacktivist groups have strong ties with Russian authorities and are being utilised to strengthen the country’s cyber offence against Ukraine.
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