The Office of Foreign Assets Control took sanctions action over the last week in the cyber and terrorism-related programs.

Cyber-related Sanctions

U.S., UK and Australia Designates Russian Cyber Actor: OFAC, in coordination with Australia and the United Kingdom, designated Alexander Ermakov, a Russian cyber actor who played a role in the 2022 ransomware attack against Medibank Private Limited, an Australian healthcare insurer. During the attack, Ermakov stole Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and sensitive health information linked to approximately 9.7 million current and former customers and authorized representatives. Ermakov and the other actors behind the Medibank hack are believed to be linked to the Russia-backed cybercrime gang REvil. REvil is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation and has been deployed on approximately 175,000 computers worldwide, with at least $200 million paid in ransom. Read more.

Terrorism-related Sanctions

U.S. and UK Sanction Houthi Leadership: OFAC on Jan. 25 imposed sanctions on key officials of Ansarallah, commonly known as the Houthis, for their support to acts of terrorism targeting commercial shipping. OFAC's action targets four individuals who have supported the Houthis' recent attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden-Mohamed al-Atifi (al-Atifi), Muhammad Fadl Abd al-Nabi (al-Nabi), Muhammad Ali al-Qadiri (al-Qadiri) and Muhammad Ahmad al-Talibi (al-Talibi). Concurrent with OFAC's designations, the United Kingdom is also imposing sanctions on these key figures of Houthi forces.

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