2.5 Year Suspended Sentence for WoT Bot Cybertank Creator

The creator of cheats for World of Tanks and World of Warships has been convicted. Andrei Kirsanov received a suspended sentence for causing millions of dollars in damages.

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Justice also reaches cheat developers. The creator of Cybership and Cybertank software has been sentenced to a suspended prison term of 2.5 years. Such consequences were felt by a hacker for selling bots for World of Tanks and World of Warships.

Several years in business

Andrei Kirsanov ran the business from 2015 to 2021, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation began to prosecute him. The cheat trafficker was unmasked with the help of a "test" conducted by one of the investigators, who bought a subscription to 1,500 battles (via MMOWG).

The case was also addressed by Wargaming itself. The developers of WOT and WOWS have valued the damage caused by Kirsanov at 670 million rubles (around $10.5 million). However, this was not enforced against the hacker in any way during the trial.

Suspended sentence

Kirsanov pleaded guilty during a hearing at the Yekaterinburg District Court and was sentenced to a 2.5-year suspended prison term.

This means that he can neither leave the city nor change his residence without permission from the authorities. Interestingly, he is the first man in Russia to be charged and convicted of gaming cybercrime.

The criminal case involving cheats for WOT and WOWS, started under Article 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which covers the issues of "creation and distribution of harmful computer programs".

As for Kirsanov's reaction to the punishment, he is satisfied and will not appeal it (via The Armored Patrol) and in principle there is nothing to be surprised about.