Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old from Oxford who leaked early GTA 6 footage and game code in 2022 has been sentenced to an indefinite stay in a secure hospital. According to the BBC, Kurtaj was part of the hacker group Lapsus$, which also attacked Nvidia, Microsoft, and Uber.
Reportedly, Kurtaj has been rather violent since he was taken into custody, causing bodily injuries and property damage. He was deemed unfit to stand trial by doctors for acute autism, and the hospital stay can last for the remainder of his life if doctors don’t ever deem him to be safe to the public. Since being arrested in September 2022, Kurtaj has had a mental assessment that reported he is highly motivated to continue cyber-crime attacks when he is free.
Earlier this month, GTA 6 was properly shown off with its first trailer over a year following the infamous leaked footage. In two weeks, it has amassed 155 million views, showing just how anticipated the upcoming game is. The defense team tried arguing that the leaks obviously have not had a negative effect on the hype for the title, but the judge made this ruling considering the victims of his other multiple hacks in the past. Rockstar reportedly has spent $5 million and thousands of man-hours recovering from the attack.
Kurtaj pulled off the Grand Theft Auto 6 hack while on bail for hacking Nvidia. He got the files, video, and other content using an Amazon Firestick, his mobile phone, and a hotel television. He also broke into Rockstar’s Slack channels and threatened, “If Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours, I will start releasing the source code.” At the time, Kurtaj’s laptop was confiscated for that prior Nvidia situation.
Luckily, Kurtaj putting the source code out to the public is believed to not result in any game delays. A 17-year-old boy who also was part of Lapsus$ was sentenced to 18 months of a Youth Rehabilitation Order for his role in other hacks as well as stalking and harassing two women. Other Lapsus$ members in the UK and Brazil are believed to be at large.
