The teenager accused of hacking Rockstar Games and leaking Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) footage has been deemed unfit to face trial, after being charged with 12 offences in relation to a string of hacks.
In September 2022, over 90 movies and screenshots from GTA 6 surfaced on-line. Rockstar Games confirmed the “early development footage” had been “illegally accessed and downloaded” — and inside weeks, a teenager in Oxfordshire was arrested in relation to the hack.
Now, 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj faces 12 offences, together with six expenses below the Computer Misuse Act, three blackmail expenses, and two counts of fraud (Reuters, by way of Eurogamer).
While psychiatrists have discovered Kurtaj is unfit to face trial, Kurtaj is an alleged member of hacking group Lapsus$ and stands accused of hacking Revolut, Uber, Rockstar, and BT. It’s alleged that Kurtaj additionally attacked BT and EE, and used Rockstar’s personal Slack channel to threaten to launch Grand Theft Auto 6‘s supply code.
While Kurtaj is suspected of appearing alone for the Rockstar, Uber and Revolut hacks, a 17-year-old who can’t be named is believed to have been concerned within the blackmailing of BT and EE.
Prosecutors claimed that each had been “key players” in Lapsus$, and tried to blackmail BT and EE for $4million (£3million). Meanwhile, Uber claimed their very own hack precipitated $3million (£2.2million) in damages.
Back in September, Rockstar mentioned it didn’t “anticipate any disruption to [its] live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of [its] ongoing projects.”.
“We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way,” the corporate added. “Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned.”
Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of GTA writer Take-Two Interactive, later described the leak as “terribly unfortunate,” and mentioned it wouldn’t have “any influence” on improvement.