Last year, Rockstar Games was hit by a massive leak that not only confirmed the existence of Grand Theft Auto VI, but dumped a horde of videos on several online message boards. Considering the game studio only just released the first trailer in December 2023, the company was still far away from sharing GTA VI footage with the world. Now, the hacker behind the infamous leak is staring at a life sentence in a secured prison.
According to the BBC, 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj from Oxford pulled off the daring leak while under police custody for a previous hack. Kurtaj reportedly has autism and a mental health assessment concluded that he “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.”
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.
Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.
To be clear, Kurtaj’s sentence to a secured hospital isn’t entirely because of the GTA VI leak. As part of the international hacker group, Lapsus$, Kurtaj committed several attacks on Uber, NVIDIA, and others where he demanded millions in ransom. He also allegedly stole from cryptocurrency wallets.
While in custody for those crimes, Kurtaj was reportedly violent, racking up dozens of reports for injuries and property damage in addition to committing the brazen GTA VI hack. However, should doctors deem that Kurtaj is no longer a danger, his indefinite hospital stay will be re-evaluated.
(Via BBC)