Login
iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
Powered by MOMENTUMMEDIA
Authorities sanction providers of so-called bulletproof hosting, which offers dark web services to ransomware operators.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, has announced the imposition of sanctions against two Russian dark web service providers.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade worked with the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the sanctions, with support from the Australian Federal Police and Australian Signals Directorate.
The targeted entities are Media Land LLC and ML Cloud LLC, bulletproof hosting providers supporting ransomware operators that have targeted Australian businesses, financial institutions, and critical infrastructure operators.
Two key personnel – Aleksandr Alexandrovich Volosovik and Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin – were also sanctioned overnight.
“The Albanese government is working to strengthen Australia’s resilience and keep Australians safe from cyber criminals,” Wong said in a 20 November statement.
“Working across government and with international partners, we will continue to take action against Russia, to disrupt cyber crime and hold malicious cyber actors to account.”
The sanctions mean it is now a criminal offence to provide assets to either of the two service providers or the two sanctioned individuals, or to deal with or use their assets. The individuals are also banned from entering Australia.
According to the AFP, Media Land and its associated entities have been providing cyber criminal services on the dark web for around 10 years. LockBit, Blacksuit, and Cl0p hacking groups have all made use of Media Land’s services in the past.
AFP Cyber Command Assistant Commissioner Richard Chin said bulletproof hosting providers were ultimately responsible for the theft of data from many innocent Australians.
“They provided cyber criminals with a perceived layer of protection, by refusing to take down websites with illegal content that had been flagged by international law enforcement agencies and governments,” Assistant Commissioner Chin said.
“The name suggests they are ‘bulletproof’, but our message to cyber criminals is clear – just because you operate on the dark web, it does not mean you are beyond law enforcement and our partners. We can see your criminal activity, and we will find you.”
Australia’s ambassador for cyber affairs and critical technology, Jess Hunter, said the Australian government is dedicated to holding hackers to account.
“Cyber sanctions work to deter cyber crime and help protect Australians by exposing the activities and identity of malicious cyber criminals operating across jurisdictions, placing them at further risk of detection wherever they may hide,” Hunter said.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
