Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old hacker, recently made headlines for leaking clips of the upcoming GTA 6 game, BBC reported.
Arion Kurtaj, based in Oxford and diagnosed with autism, had previously hacked tech giants like Uber, Nvidia, and Rockstar Games, resulting in nearly $10 million in losses for these companies. According to BBC, he is part of the international group Lapsus$.
Due to his cybercrime activities, Kurtaj was arrested and released on bail under police supervision. The police confiscated his laptop and placed him in a motel room. Despite these measures, Kurtaj used an Amazon Fire Stick connected to the motel room TV to hack into Rockstar Games and steal clips of GTA 6.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Arion Kurtaj displayed violent behavior while in custody. As a result, he has been sentenced to remain in a secure hospital for an indefinite period, unless medical professionals determine that he is no longer a threat to the public.
The hacking incident took place in September 2022, where Kurtaj leaked over 90 videos showcasing an early version of “GTA VI.” Under the username TeaPotUberHacker, he reportedly gained unauthorized access to the company through its Slack platform, as reported by The Guardian.
Kurtaj took 90 clips from the not-yet-released and highly awaited GTA 6. He hacked into the company’s private messaging system on Slack and warned Rockstar that if they didn’t message him on Telegram within 24 hours, he would start sharing the game’s source code.
True to his word, he uploaded the clips and source code on a forum using the username TeaPotUberHacker. As a result, he got arrested again and is now being held in custody until his trial.
Rockstar confirmed the leak of “GTA VI,” expressing disappointment at the premature exposure of crucial game details, including its setting in a fictional version of Miami. Within just one day of its release, the “GTA VI” trailer got over 93 million views on YouTube, highlighting the immense excitement and widespread interest in the game within the gaming community and beyond.
During the sentencing hearings, Kurtaj’s lawyers claimed that since the game’s trailer was successful, his hack didn’t harm the game developer significantly. They requested this to be considered in the sentencing.
However, Judge Lees disagreed, pointing out that real harm was inflicted by Kurtaj’s multiple hacks on individuals and Lapsus$-targeted companies. Rockstar Games informed the court that the hack alone cost them $5 million for recovery and consumed thousands of staff hours.
