Maksim Yakubets, the cracker linked to the Garmin ransomware

The leader of the black hat hacker gang linked to the massive Garmin service outage is a big-spending playboy with a fondness for sports cars and alleged ties to the Russian government.

Maksim Yakubets is the alleged mastermind behind Evil Corp, the group of unethical hackers who reportedly took the smartwatch manufacturer as their latest victim last week. The Moscow-based organization is behind the WastedLocker ransomware that knocked out Garmin's fitness tracking platform for about four days before it was partially restored Monday morning, according to reports.

While Garmin confirmed that a cyberattack caused the outage, it is not known whether Yakubets was personally involved. But he has a long track record of using malicious software to steal fortunes from companies around the world, according to U.S. and British officials who have been pursuing him.

Federal authorities filed criminal charges last year against Yakubets — known online by the pseudonym "aqua" — for his key role in two information-theft schemes that left dozens of victims infected with financial malware starting in 2009.

Yakubets and others used the malicious programs to steal banking information from computers and then siphon money from the accounts of banks, businesses, municipalities, and other targets, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in December.

The crackers allegedly stole approximately $70 million from victims across a dozen states using their "Zeus" malware, which they began deploying in 2009, federal authorities said. Another program known as "Dridex" was set up to target customers at nearly 300 organizations in more than 40 countries, according to the UK's National Crime Agency, which accused Evil Corp of causing "hundreds of millions" of pounds sterling in financial losses.

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  Maksim Yakubets' Wedding

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  Alyona Benderskaya

Yakubets also has alleged ties to the Kremlin: he worked for Russia's Federal Security Service in 2017 and applied the following year for a license to work with classified Russian intelligence from the agency, U.S. officials said in December.

The U.S. State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Yakubets' capture. But his status as an international fugitive has reportedly not stopped him from living extravagantly.

Yakubets owns a customized Lamborghini with a camouflage-like paint job and a personalized license plate that translates to "Thief," according to UK authorities, who released a video of a similar-looking car doing donuts in a parking lot.

Members of Evil Corp are living a lavish lifestyle, funded by the life savings of their victims.  
  
If Maksim Yakubets, who used the online identity of 'Aqua', ever leaves the safety of Russia he will be arrested and extradited to the US. [pic.twitter.com/BdoaxZrFBK](https://t.co/BdoaxZrFBK)

— National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA\_UK) [December 5, 2019](https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1202644233586393088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Yakubets also reportedly spent more than $300,000 on his lavish wedding to a businesswoman named Alyona Benderskaya. Yakubets' face was hidden in images from the extravagant 2017 ceremony at a luxury golf club near Moscow, which featured a performance by Russian singer Leonid Agutin, according to a report by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

A Russian wedding planning company called Karamel that organized the event reportedly described the couple's vision for the party on its website.

"She saw her wedding exclusively as a classic, luxurious dream," the company wrote, according to The Sun. "He, by contrast, saw it only as modern and technologically advanced."

Source: NY Post