18-year-old hacker behind GTA VI leak sentenced to life in secure hospital facility

[midian182]

What just happened? The teenage mastermind behind the infamous GTA VI hack and leak that took place last year has been sentenced to indefinite imprisonment inside a hospital prison. The member of hacking group Lapsus$, who is autistic, has been deemed a high risk to the public due to his desire to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.

Eighteen-year-old Arion Kurtaj from Oxford, UK, was one of two teens behind the hack on Rockstar Games last year that led to a flood of GTA VI content hitting the internet. Kurtaj carried out the attack while on bail for hacking Nvidia and British telecom provider BT/EE. Despite staying in a hotel under police protection and having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj was able to hack Rockstar using the room's included Amazon Fire Stick and a newly purchased phone, keyboard, and mouse, writes the BBC. He broke into Rockstar's internal Slack system and threatened to release the source code if the company did not contact him on Telegram. The incident led to his final arrest.

Arion Kurtaj

Back in July, it was reported that Kurtaj, who was also behind an attack on Uber, had been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial in a London court, meaning a jury could only determine whether he committed the crimes he was accused of, rather than judging him guilty or not guilty.

A mental health assessment used as part of the sentencing hearing said Kurtaj continued to express an intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible, adding that "he is highly motivated."

The court also heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody, with dozens of reports of injury or property damage. He will remain at a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem him no longer a danger.

Rockstar Games told the court that the hack cost it $5 million to recover from, as well as thousands of hours of staff time. Kurtaj's defense team tried to argue that the success of the recently revealed official GTA VI trailer showed his hack had not caused serious harm to the developer, but the judge said there were real victims and harm caused by his Lapsus$ attacks on various individuals and companies.

The other Lapsus$ member, who is 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty in the same trial. He was sentenced to an 18-month Youth Rehabilitation Order, including intense supervision, surveillance, and a ban on using VPNs. He was also sentenced for an "unpleasant and frightening pattern of stalking and harassment" of two young women.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101310-18-year-old-hacker-behind-gta-vi-leak.html

 

[Lozzy]

And in other parts of the UK (Scotland) first offenders for rape are allowed to walk free. Money clearly talks.

 

[Uncle Al]

Well done .... as reported he is NOT a first offender, but a member of a criminal organization that has fleased over $10 million dollars from companies and organizations. Personally I would recommend this kind of sentence for ANYONE engageing in such activity along with a special provision that they may never again have access to any phone, pad, computer or device capable of accessing the internet.

 

[RudyBob]

He will be out soon

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

So is the "Secure Hospital Facility" actually a cover for putting him to work hacking enemies of the UK government? Something to consider.

 

[3volv3d]

Well done .... as reported he is NOT a first offender, but a member of a criminal organization that has fleased over $10 million dollars from companies and organizations. Personally I would recommend this kind of sentence for ANYONE engageing in such activity along with a special provision that they may never again have access to any phone, pad, computer or device capable of accessing the internet.

Well I can't say about the group, but he's clearly a smart lad, maybe a catch me if you can, give him a job. Enemies close type thing.
But it is rock star, its just a game and a leak of some naff photos. It wasn't a big deal in itself.
The new phone I'd love to know how he obtained it.
There are more pressing concerns on the planet.

 

[mgwerner]

He'll "disappear," end up with a modified Musk chip in his skull, and spend the rest of his days in the basement of MI-6 or Langley. Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets for a good job, electroshock in the brain when he goes off-script.™

Producers, this is my idea, and I get a cut of movie residuals.......

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well done .... as reported he is NOT a first offender, but a member of a criminal organization that has fleased over $10 million dollars from companies and organizations. Personally I would recommend this kind of sentence for ANYONE engageing in such activity along with a special provision that they may never again have access to any phone, pad, computer or device capable of accessing the internet.

Life in prison for leaking some gameplay footage? a $10 million dollar cost to mega-corporations that regularly fleece mroe then that daily from innocent users? Man you guys are harsh. If only you would punish violent criminals with such gusto, instead of demanding crackdowns on speech and long sentences for nonviolent crimes, the world may be a better place....

Well I can't say about the group, but he's clearly a smart lad, maybe a catch me if you can, give him a job. Enemies close type thing.
But it is rock star, its just a game and a leak of some naff photos. It wasn't a big deal in itself.
The new phone I'd love to know how he obtained it.
There are more pressing concerns on the planet.

More notably, he hacked rockstar with a phone, fireTV stick, and smart TV. I can only imagine how much he could do in the cybersecurity space.

But we gotta keep him locked up, he might hurt the feelings of the megacorp! Cant be having that, now can we?

 

[Zsoltblabla]

He now work for MI5…

 

[kiwigraeme]

It will be appealed - guaranteed - without going into the case

I assumed this is a mental health problem - not a crime problem

Most recidivist criminals are gonna re-offend - nothing new here - so that is BS

Yeah maybe they lie - and this guys autism means he can't

In NZ - you basically have to he an high risk sex offender/pedo , serial killer/kill for profit as easy as to be locked away for good

Some sex offenders go back to quite nice minimum secure facilities as feel safer on free choice - apparently I should be concerned their safety in society is impinged on

Most murderers only kill once - but pedos will mostly persist - no matter their feelings - they should never had acted on them day one - I do wonder how many join a religious org hoping to refocus their energies - end up with too much time on their hands to do bad and means

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

That seems quite unnecessary... just make him work for British intelligence while being monitored, people with these hacking skills can be very useful for finding information from the country's enemies abroad. As for the "reports" of violence, did they decide these actions based on reports or actual evidence? If there is no evidence that he actually committed violent crime then the state has violated the guys rights.

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

And did anyone care about the GTA 6 data leak? I didn't... I looked it, and went "meh, its leaked alpha footage who cares". I watched the official trailer last week, looks good. Now if they release a polished PC port in a reasonable time I'll buy it, for a reasonable price. I don't know what that is yet, but if it really has so much more content than 5 then it might actually be worth the $150 or whatever they will supposedly ask for it.

 

[mbk34]

They weren't just releasing photo's of new games, they were blackmailing companies, stealing peoples bittorrent accounts etc. Looking at a technical crime report on the lad seems to show he just bought lists of username & passwords to initially get into systems and then hunted around from there. It didn't sound like he was a IT genius.

 

[VitalyT]

May he hack into the shock therapy machine to get higher voltage!

 

[ferrellsl]

Damn, this kid should be working for the British Intelligence services instead of wasting away in a mental hospital.

 

[amghwk]

Back in July, it was reported that Kurtaj, who was also behind an attack on Uber, had been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial in a London court.

"Mentally unfit" genius?

And how did Rockstar came up with the $5mil loss?

 

[toooooot]

"Mentally unfit" genius?

And how did Rockstar came up with the $5mil loss?

I would argue the loss is greater.
Unfinished gameplay, that does not show the game it was meant to be.
Millions of people who have seen it might choose to not buy the game.
Watching unfinished game is not exciting and does not make people want to buy it even though
we all do it.

 

[quadibloc]

If one causes a $5 million financial loss to an innocent party, even if that party is a giant corporation, it's still an injustice to that party that won't be remedied unless they can get the $5 million back. So I am fine with severe punishments for hackers. But if a man commits rape, he should not get a slap on the wrist either; this is a crime of inhuman torture, and thus should be punished with the utmost severity.
Innocent people who don't go around commiting crimes are entitled to live in a world where crime does not exist. Criminals stand in the way of that, and should be treated accordingly.

 

[Tams80]

If one causes a $5 million financial loss to an innocent party, even if that party is a giant corporation, it's still an injustice to that party that won't be remedied unless they can get the $5 million back. So I am fine with severe punishments for hackers. But if a man commits rape, he should not get a slap on the wrist either; this is a crime of inhuman torture, and thus should be punished with the utmost severity.
Innocent people who don't go around commiting crimes are entitled to live in a world where crime does not exist. Criminals stand in the way of that, and should be treated accordingly.

Okay, but where is the proof that they lost that much?

It's all theoretical, and if we're using that line of thinking... well, one could argue that it made Rockstar money due to free publicity.

 

[loki1944]

I was a bit shocked at the sentence until I saw the country; I guarantee if a US citizen did this it would not be as big a deal in the US. Teenagers aren' exactly the most mature individuals; so indefinite imprisonment seems pretty draconian and honestly could potentially drive a kid insane.

 

[Furriest]

He'll "disappear," end up with a modified Musk chip in his skull, and spend the rest of his days in the basement of MI-6 or Langley. Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets for a good job, electroshock in the brain when he goes off-script.™

Producers, this is my idea, and I get a cut of movie residuals.......

...

 

[holydiver]

The guy is a fuc*ing hacking legend. And rapists can walk free in the streets?