Australia: The hackers leaking stolen Australian health records to the dark web recently appeared to end their extortion attempt by dumping the last batch of data online and saying “Case closed.”

Previously, the hackers have threatened health insurer Medibank to pay $9.7 million to keep the records off the internet. They demanded that otherwise the company’s impacted customers, which included Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, should give $1 each.

However, Medibank refused to pay at the urging of the Federal Government, which at the height of the crisis pondered making it illegal for hacked firms to send over ransoms. The hackers claimed to have deliberately uploaded the last batch of data online on December 1 as it is International Computer Security Day.

“Happy Cyber Security Day, added folder full. Case closed.” they wrote.

Curated posts showcasing medical records regarding drug addiction, miscarriages, and STDs began to surface on a dark web forum on 2022 November 9th. These were the first batches of stolen data.

Medibank recently stated that the latest post was “incomplete and hard to understand.” As a sign that the hackers may have lost interest after a ransom was removed from the table, the firm added.

“While our investigation continues there are currently no signs that financial or banking data has been taken,” Medibank remarked in a statement.

The commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mr. Reece Kershaw, stated that the hackers were thought to be a group of “loosely affiliated cybercriminals” headquartered in Russia. Security experts have speculated that they might be associated with the Russian hacking group REvil. The hackers have been referred by several Australian Government ministers as “scumbags,” “scummy criminals,” and “rolled gold mongrels.”

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