A key member of the Lapsus $ group is considered dangerous to society.
A British court has sentenced 18-year-old hacker Arion Kurtaj to life in a psychiatric hospital for hacking Rockstar Games and leaking fragments of the game Grand Theft Auto VI, which at that time had not yet been released, the BBC reports.
The court said that Kurtai's cybercrime skills and his desire to continue hacking make him still a danger to society. He will remain in a closed medical facility for the rest of his life, unless doctors consider that he no longer poses a threat.
Recall that in September 2022, Kurtaj hacked Rockstar Games while in a Travelodge hotel under police guard. Using an Amazon Firestick, keyboard, mouse, hotel TV, and mobile phone, he managed to access 90 gameplay snippets and thousands of lines of code from the early GTA VI build. The hacker then posted the stolen data on the forum, threatening to release the entire source code of the game if he was not contacted by the company.
At the trial, Kurtaj's lawyers pointed to the commercial success of the recently released GTA VI trailer, which garnered 128 million views on YouTube. In their opinion, this proves that the hack did not cause serious damage to the developer. However, the judge emphasized the damage caused by the Lapsus $ attacks, noting that Rockstar Games alone spent $5 million and thousands of hours of work recovering from the hack.
The court also noted that Kurtaj showed aggression during his detention. Dozens of cases of injuries or property damage were recorded.
Earlier, due to the severity of autism, Kurtai was declared insane, so the court had to determine whether there was criminal intent in his actions or not. A psychiatric evaluation conducted as part of the sentencing hearing found that Kurtay "continues to express his intention to return to cybercrime as soon as the opportunity presents itself. He's very motivated."
Kurtai was a key member of the international hacker group Lapsus$, which attacked such IT giants as Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games. The damage from these attacks amounted to about $10 million.
In addition to Kurtaj, the authorities detained another member of the gang, whose name is not called, as he has not yet reached the age of majority. According to investigators, he was involved in hacking Nvidia and BT/EE.
A British court has sentenced 18-year-old hacker Arion Kurtaj to life in a psychiatric hospital for hacking Rockstar Games and leaking fragments of the game Grand Theft Auto VI, which at that time had not yet been released, the BBC reports.
The court said that Kurtai's cybercrime skills and his desire to continue hacking make him still a danger to society. He will remain in a closed medical facility for the rest of his life, unless doctors consider that he no longer poses a threat.
Recall that in September 2022, Kurtaj hacked Rockstar Games while in a Travelodge hotel under police guard. Using an Amazon Firestick, keyboard, mouse, hotel TV, and mobile phone, he managed to access 90 gameplay snippets and thousands of lines of code from the early GTA VI build. The hacker then posted the stolen data on the forum, threatening to release the entire source code of the game if he was not contacted by the company.
At the trial, Kurtaj's lawyers pointed to the commercial success of the recently released GTA VI trailer, which garnered 128 million views on YouTube. In their opinion, this proves that the hack did not cause serious damage to the developer. However, the judge emphasized the damage caused by the Lapsus $ attacks, noting that Rockstar Games alone spent $5 million and thousands of hours of work recovering from the hack.
The court also noted that Kurtaj showed aggression during his detention. Dozens of cases of injuries or property damage were recorded.
Earlier, due to the severity of autism, Kurtai was declared insane, so the court had to determine whether there was criminal intent in his actions or not. A psychiatric evaluation conducted as part of the sentencing hearing found that Kurtay "continues to express his intention to return to cybercrime as soon as the opportunity presents itself. He's very motivated."
Kurtai was a key member of the international hacker group Lapsus$, which attacked such IT giants as Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games. The damage from these attacks amounted to about $10 million.
In addition to Kurtaj, the authorities detained another member of the gang, whose name is not called, as he has not yet reached the age of majority. According to investigators, he was involved in hacking Nvidia and BT/EE.
