British teen hacker behind GTA 6 leak sentenced to life in hospital
Doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism so the jury was tasked with determining whether he had committed the alleged acts, not whether he did so with criminal intent.
An 18-year-old hacker from England's Oxford who leaked clips of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order, reports BBC.
Arion Kurtaj, who is autistic, was a prominent member of international cybercrime gang Lapsus$.
The gang's cyberattacks on major tech companies including Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games cost the firms nearly $10 million.
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The judge said Kurtaj's skills and inclination towards cybercrime posed a significant threat to the public, leading to the decision for an indefinite hospital order.
He will remain at a secure hospital for life unless medical professionals deem him no longer a danger.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Kurtaj had displayed violent behaviour while in custody, with numerous reports of injuries and property damage.
Doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism so the jury was tasked with determining whether he had committed the alleged acts, not whether he did so with criminal intent.
A mental health assessment presented during the sentencing hearing indicated that Kurtaj maintained a strong desire to engage in cybercrime, stating that he "continued to express the intent to return to cyber-crime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated."
The jury was also told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack.
Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj successfully hacked into Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.
During this breach, he obtained 90 clips of the highly anticipated and unreleased game, Grand Theft Auto 6.
He broke into the company's internal Slack messaging system and issued a threat, stating, "If Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code."
He then posted the stolen clips and source code on a forum under the username TeaPotUberHacker.
He was rearrested and held in custody until his trial.
Earlier this month, the trailer for GTA 6 was released clocking up 128 million views on YouTube in just four days.
In sentencing hearings, Kurtaj's defence team argued that the success of the game's trailer indicated that Kurtaj's hack had not caused serious harm to the game developer and asked that this be factored into the sentencing.
But Judge Lees said there were real victims and real harm caused from his other multiple hacks on individuals and the companies he attacked with Lapsus$.
Rockstar Games alone told the court that the hack cost it $5 million to recover from in addition to thousands of hours of staff time.
Another Lapsus$ member, who is 17 and cannot be named because of his age, was found guilty in the same trial that lasted six weeks at Southwark Crown Court.
He worked with Kurtaj and other members of Lapsus$ to hack tech giant Nvidia and phone company BT/EE and steal data before demanding a $4 million ransom, which was not paid.
They also stole directly from individuals through their cryptocurrency wallets.
The 17-year-old was sentenced to an 18 month long Youth Rehabilitation Order, including intense supervision and a ban on using VPNs online.
As well as hacking offences the boy was sentenced for what the judge described as "unpleasant and frightening pattern of stalking and harassment" of two young women.
Kurtaj and the 17-year-old are the first members of the Lapsus$ gang to be convicted but it is thought others are still at large.
