U.S., UK join Australia's sanctions against Russian citizen Yermakov accused of cyberattacks

LONDON/WASHINGTON. Jan 23 (Interfax) - The United States and the United Kingdom have joined Australia, which imposed sanctions on Russian citizen Alexander Yermakov accused of involvement in one of the biggest cyberattacks in 2022, the UK Foreign Office and the U.S. Department of the Treasury said in a statement.

The restrictive measures involve freezing Yermakov's assets and barring him from these countries. Their authorities believe he was involved in a hacker attack in 2022 on the database of Medibank, an Australian medical insurance company.

According to the Treasury's data, the attack involved the use of ransomware. Washington and London sanctioned Yermakov both in solidarity and because of the danger he represents to the U.S. and UK, the Department said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Australian authorities imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on Yermakov, whom they believe to be behind the data breach at Medibank in 2022. During the attack, the hackers gained access to the confidential data of the company's 9.7 million clients and put it out on the Internet.