The Australian government has announced sanctions against Russian man Aleksandr Ermakov over his role in the Medibank Private data breach.

Key points:

· The personal information of 9.7 million Medibank customers was stolen in a 2022 cyber attack

· The ASD and the AFP have identified Russian Alexsandr Ermakov as the man responsible

· The Australian government has imposed sanctions making it a criminal offence to provide him with any assets

It is the first time the government has used its cyber sanctions framework, which was legislated in 2021 to apply financial punishments to people involved in significant cyber attacks.

The personal information of 9.7 million Medibank customers, including names, dates of birth, Medicare numbers and sensitive private health information, was stolen in 2022. Much of it was published on the dark web.

The government said the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Federal Police had identified Ermakov as responsible for the attack.

 

Russian man Aleksandr Ermakov has been sanctioned in connection with the Medibank cyber attack.(Supplied: DFAT)

The sanctions make it a criminal offence to provide the man with any assets, including cryptocurrency and any money through ransom payments, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

"This is a very important day for cybersecurity in our country," Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neil said.

"Medibank, in my view, was the single most devastating cyber attack we have experienced as a nation.

"We all went through it. Literally millions of people having personal data about themselves, their family members, taken from them and cruelly placed online for others to see.

"These people are cowards and they're scumbags. 

"They hide behind technology ... The Australian government is saying that when we put our minds to it, we'll unveil who you are and we'll make sure you're accountable."

Authorities are pursuing additional leads in relation to the Medibank attack.

Ms O'Neil said authorities were focused on "a number of Russian cyber gangs" threatening Australia and working in coordination with cyber authorities in the US and UK.

A spokesperson from Medibank thanked the government for identifying Ermakov and putting sanctions in place.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong also announced the government had imposed counter-terrorism sanctions against 12 people and three entities linked to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic jihad.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson welcomed the cyber sanctions and praised the work of law enforcement officials, but said the government had been too slow to act.

Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham also criticised the speed of the counter-terrorism sanctions, which he said "could have been done weeks ago".