GTA VI Hacker Receives Indefinite Hospital Sentence, Reports Claim
The hacker behind the leak of Grand Theft Auto VI developmental videos last year is reportedly confined to a secure hospital for an indefinite period. According to BBC News, the individual identified as 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj, associated with the cybercrime group Lapsus$, has been deemed unfit for trial due to a diagnosis of acute autism. The judicial process considered a mental assessment that assessed whether the actions were driven by criminal intent, indicating the individual’s ‘highly motivated’ inclination towards criminal activities. Consequently, a life sentence in a hospital has been imposed until the individual is assessed as no longer posing a threat to others.
Kurtaj was arrested back in September 2022 on suspicion of the Rockstar Games hack, during which he pled not guilty and faced trial for the crimes his cybercrime group committed against Nvidia and Uber. “The jury was told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a Travelodge hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack,” the report states. The hack was seemingly carried out in a hotel room, which he performed using an Amazon Firestick, a television, and a smartphone. (His laptop was allegedly confiscated from a previous breach attack.) Having gained access to the company’s Slack group, he boldly threatened to release the GTA 6 source code within the next 24 hours unless Rockstar negotiated with him over the Telegram messaging app.
Amidst unconfirmed speculation, it’s believed that Rockstar Games might have rejected requests made by Kurtaj, prompting him to release over 90 clips from the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI into the public domain, marking one of the gaming industry’s most substantial leaks. While earlier this month, the company unveiled the first trailer for GTA VI, showcasing in-engine footage and glimpses of protagonists Lucia and Jason. Despite the trailer’s monumental success, amassing 62 million views within a mere 13 hours, Kurtaj’s defense asserted that the leaks had minimal impact on the game’s prosperity and caused no significant harm. Conversely, Rockstar countered, alleging that the leaks compromised thousands of hours of development work and detrimentally affected team morale, resulting in a staggering $5 million worth of damages for recovery efforts. Alongside Kurtaj, an unnamed 17-year-old individual was also convicted for involvement in the cyberattack on Nvidia and cryptocurrency theft.
In a recent turn of events, another prominent game studio, Insomniac Games, fell victim to a ransomware attack, leading to the release of 1.67TB of confidential data. This included a functional build of the forthcoming Wolverine game, internal emails, personal information of employees, presentations detailing future release plans, sales data, and more. In response, game developers globally have united, offering support to those affected while vehemently condemning such cyberattacks that pose risks to individuals’ lives.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is anticipated to make its debut on the current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series S/X consoles sometime in 2025.
