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One of the notorious GTA 6 hackers responsible for leaking several key details “will remain at a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem him no longer a danger.” Arion Kurtaj, a vital member of the international extortion-focused hacker group Lapsus$, has been deemed by a judge to be a high risk to the public due to his “skills and desire to commit cybercrime,” which helped sabotage not only Rockstar but also other high-profile companies like Nvidia and Uber.
Before Kurtaj had committed the heinous act against Rockstar Games, he had already been placed on bail and under police protection at a Travelodge hotel for his part in hacking Nvidia and phone company BT/EE, according to BBC. At the hotel, he then proceeded to breach Rockstar using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, his hotel room’s TV, and a mobile phone after authorities had confiscated his laptop. After breaking into the studio’s internal Slack messaging system, he demanded: “If Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code.”
During subsequent sentencing hearings, a mental health assessment used as part of proceedings said Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible” and that “he is highly motivated.” Though doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial due to his acute autism, presiding judge Judge Lees said that Kurtaj caused actual harm to several victims through the multiple hacks he and his gang carried out, hence the indefinite hospital order.
Back in November 2022, officials had similarly arrested a 17-year-old as-yet-unnamed culprit of the Rockstar security breach that saw mountains of data, in-game footage, and source code divulged to the public. It’s now been confirmed via a BBC article that another similarly aged Lapsus$ associate, who worked with Kurtaj and other members in breaching Nvidia and BT/EE, has been found guilty in the same trial. However, it remains unclear whether this is the same individual who was taken into custody last year.
Due to the perpetrator’s young age, they have instead been sentenced to an 18-month-long Youth Rehabilitation Order instead of a similar indefinite hospital order. The rest of the Lapsus$ hacker group remains at large.
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