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A British court sentenced 18-year-old hacker Arion Kurtaj to hospitalization in a psychiatric clinic for an indefinite period for hacking Rockstar Games and leaking GTA VI gameplay. The judge said Kurtaj is a key member of the Lapsus$ group, and his skills and desire to commit crimes show how dangerous he is to society. He will remain in hospital for life unless doctors deem he is no longer a threat, the BBC reports .
Recall that in September 2022, Kurtaj, while at the Travelodge hotel under police protection, was able to hack Rockstar Games using an Amazon Firestick, keyboard, mouse, hotel TV and mobile phone. Kurtaj stole 90 gameplay videos and thousands of lines of code from an early build of GTA VI. The teenager posted the code and video on the forum under the nickname TeaPotUberHacker. He was arrested and detained pending trial.
During the trial, Kurtaj's defense team pointed out that the GTA VI trailer, which was released earlier this month, received 128 million views in just four days. Lawyers said the success of the game's trailer indicated that the hack did not cause serious harm to the company, and asked that this be taken into account when sentencing.
In response, Judge Lees highlighted the harm caused by this and previous Lapsus$ attacks. Rockstar Games alone told the court that recovering from the hack cost the company $5 million plus thousands of hours of staff time. The court also noted that while in custody, Kurtaj was aggressive and had dozens of complaints of bodily injury or property damage filed against him.
Kurtaj had previously been deemed unfit to stand trial by doctors due to his acute autism, so the jury was asked to determine whether there was criminal intent in his actions or not. According to Kurtaj's mental health assessment, while in custody he continued to talk about returning to cyberattacks and intended to do so as soon as possible. “He is very motivated,” the psychiatrist concluded. By court decision, Kurtaj will be sent to a psychiatric clinic.
Lapsus$'s attacks on IT giants, which included Uber, Nvidia, the telephone operator BT/EE and Rockstar Games, cost the companies almost $10 million. In addition to Kurtaj, the authorities detained another member of the gang, whose name is not named, since he has not reached the age of majority. According to investigators, he participated in the hacking of Nvidia and BT/EE, as well as in the theft of funds from cryptocurrency wallets of individuals. The teenager was sentenced to 18 months of supervised rehabilitation and banned from using a VPN. Kurtaj and a 17-year-old teenager are the first and only members of the Lapsus$ group to be convicted to date.
Recall that in September 2022, Kurtaj, while at the Travelodge hotel under police protection, was able to hack Rockstar Games using an Amazon Firestick, keyboard, mouse, hotel TV and mobile phone. Kurtaj stole 90 gameplay videos and thousands of lines of code from an early build of GTA VI. The teenager posted the code and video on the forum under the nickname TeaPotUberHacker. He was arrested and detained pending trial.
During the trial, Kurtaj's defense team pointed out that the GTA VI trailer, which was released earlier this month, received 128 million views in just four days. Lawyers said the success of the game's trailer indicated that the hack did not cause serious harm to the company, and asked that this be taken into account when sentencing.
In response, Judge Lees highlighted the harm caused by this and previous Lapsus$ attacks. Rockstar Games alone told the court that recovering from the hack cost the company $5 million plus thousands of hours of staff time. The court also noted that while in custody, Kurtaj was aggressive and had dozens of complaints of bodily injury or property damage filed against him.
Kurtaj had previously been deemed unfit to stand trial by doctors due to his acute autism, so the jury was asked to determine whether there was criminal intent in his actions or not. According to Kurtaj's mental health assessment, while in custody he continued to talk about returning to cyberattacks and intended to do so as soon as possible. “He is very motivated,” the psychiatrist concluded. By court decision, Kurtaj will be sent to a psychiatric clinic.
Lapsus$'s attacks on IT giants, which included Uber, Nvidia, the telephone operator BT/EE and Rockstar Games, cost the companies almost $10 million. In addition to Kurtaj, the authorities detained another member of the gang, whose name is not named, since he has not reached the age of majority. According to investigators, he participated in the hacking of Nvidia and BT/EE, as well as in the theft of funds from cryptocurrency wallets of individuals. The teenager was sentenced to 18 months of supervised rehabilitation and banned from using a VPN. Kurtaj and a 17-year-old teenager are the first and only members of the Lapsus$ group to be convicted to date.
