The hacker primarily responsible for leaking dozens of clips of an in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 has been sentenced to an indefinite imprisonment in a secure hospital.
According to BBC, hacker Arion Kurtaj is a member of international hacking group Lapsus$, which has previously carried out numerous attacks on major companies including Nvidia, Microsoft, Samsung, and Uber.
Kurtaj was apparently out on bail for the Nvidia attack and in police protection at a Travelodge when the attack was carried out in September of last year. Though his laptop had been confiscated at the time, Kurtaj was nonetheless able to hack into Rockstar’s internal systems using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV, and a cell phone. Not long after, he posted the clips and game source on online messageboard GTAForums.
Kurtaj was deemed unfit to stand trial due to a medical diagnosis of acute autism, which resulted in a request that the jury simply determine whether or not he was responsible for the attack, not whether or not he’d had criminal intent. He was reportedly violent while in police custody, including “dozens of reports of injury or property damage,” according to BBC. BBC also reports that a mental health assessment in the hearing read that Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated.”
While Kurtaj’s defense reportedly argued the success of the recent GTA 6 trailer indicated there had been no measurable negative impact from the hack on Rockstar, Rockstar in turn argued that it had cost the studio $5 million and thousands of hours of staff time. The trial concluded with Kurtaj being sentenced to an indefinite imprisonment in a secure hospital, with the potential to be freed if doctors determine he is no longer a threat to others.
The Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks were, at the time, one of the most massive leaks in gaming history. They encompassed the game’s source code and 90 footage clips, all with unfinished assets and other in-development elements. The leaked videos were taken down quickly by publisher Take-Two Interactive, and Rockstar confirmed the hack was real not long after in a public statement.
While Kurtaj has been tried and sentenced alongside, per the BBC, another unnamed 17-year-old member of the group, a number of other members of Lapsus$ are believed to remain at large.
Massive as the Grand Theft Auto 6 hack was, the industry has been dealing with another enormous and damaging hack in the past week, this time targeting Insomniac Games. After threatening to release confidential company information unless they were paid 50 BTC, or around $2 million, hackers released 1.67 terabytes of data on Insomniac games, Sony business and contract information, and employee personal information. Sony has yet to issue a statement on this event.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
