Earlier this month, Rockstar Games released the first trailer of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6). Unfortunately for the developer, people had gotten a look at the sequel of GTA 5 well before the trailer came out. In 2022, a hacker group called Lapsus$ leaked around 90 videos of the GTA 6’s gameplay. Well, the person who played a critical role in leaking those videos, Arion Kurtaj, has now been sentenced to life in a hospital prison (via BBC).
Lapsus$ is notorious for carrying out cyberattacks against some of the largest technology companies around the globe, including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Uber. The mastermind of the international gang is none other than Arion, who is just 18 years old.
In January 2022, Arion was arrested for hacking BT and EE. However, he was released shortly after that under investigation. In March 2022, Arion was arrested once again. This time for carrying out a cyberattack on Nvidia. According to BBC, Kurtaj was then “moved into a Travelodge hotel in Bicester for his safety and given strict bail conditions including a ban from going on the internet.” But that didn’t stop him from hacking.
Arion hacked Rockstar using Amazon Fire TV Stick
While he was on bail, he carried out his most famous cyberattack, the one on Rockstar Games. He managed to make this possible by using just the Amazon Fire Stick that was connected to a TV in the hotel, which allowed him to connect to cloud computing services, and a newly purchased smartphone, keyboard, and mouse. This was when the police re-arrested and detained Arion for putting him on trial.
Since Arion suffers from Autism, doctors deemed him unfit for the trial. So, a jury was “asked to determine whether or not he did the acts alleged – not if he did it with criminal intent.” A mental health assessment that was used as a part of the sentencing hearing said he “continued to express the intent to return to cyber-crime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated.” Reportedly, Arion was also violent while he was in custody with “dozens of reports of injury or property damage.”
Looking at all these facts, the court sentenced the 18-year-old hacker to an indefinite hospital order.
