Camilla Jessen
The “Tank” led two global hacking rings while partying as a DJ.
Viacheslav Penchukov, known in hacker circles as “Tank” and in clubs as DJ Slava Rich, was one of the FBI’s most wanted men for nearly a decade.
In his first public interview, the 39-year-old Ukrainian described how he led cybercrime rings that stole tens of millions of dollars, targeted hospitals, and kept law enforcement at bay for years.
Penchukov ran two notorious cybercrime groups: Jabber Zeus and IcedID.
The first focused on stealing directly from small businesses and charities.
The second, far more aggressive, targeted hospitals and universities with ransomware, shutting down services until massive ransoms were paid.
Escape artist and Audi enthusiast
While Penchukov may not have been the most technical hacker, his charm and criminal instincts made him dangerous.
He also knew when to run. In 2010, when the FBI launched “Operation Trident Breach” to arrest members of the Jabber Zeus gang, Penchukov escaped during a high-speed chase in his custom Audi S8 with a Lamborghini engine.
“I saw the police lights in my mirror, ran the red light, and was gone,” he told the BBC. He went underground and hid in Ukraine, where local authorities lost interest after the FBI left.
He tried to go clean, launching a coal business, but that collapsed when Russia invaded Crimea. Broke and on the FBI’s most wanted list, Penchukov returned to hacking.
Hospitals, ransomware, and $200,000 months
With IcedID, Penchukov helped infect over 150,000 computers, including those at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The ransomware attack shut the hospital down for weeks and cost more than $30 million.
He denies involvement in that attack but admits the group made $200,000 a month on average.
“Hackers saw others make $20 million from one attack,” he said. “So everyone started going after hospitals.”
“No friends in this game”
Penchukov’s network once included Maxim Yakubets, the leader of Evil Corp, a notorious Russian hacking group. Yakubets remains free, living lavishly in Moscow with bodyguards.
The FBI is offering $5 million for his capture.
Unlike Yakubets, Penchukov’s luck ran out in 2022, when Swiss authorities arrested him during a dramatic sting. He was extradited and sentenced to two nine-year terms.
Now, he’s serving time in a federal prison in Colorado,
“I don’t regret it,” he said. “But I’ve learned that you can’t trust anyone in this world. Your best friend today could be an FBI informant tomorrow.”
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, who may have used AI in the preparation
