JAKARTA – The hacker who was an important figure behind the leaked video footage of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI game, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by Southwark Crown Court, London, England, Thursday (21/12). Interestingly, the 18 year old hacker named Arion Kurtaj was sentenced even though he was diagnosed as having autism.
Kurtaj himself is part of the international hacker gang, Lapsus$, which carried out cyber attacks on the GTA VI game development company, Rockstar Games. As well as to a number of other companies, including Uber and Nvidia, resulting in losses of almost US$ 10 million.
His actions as an important figure in the Lapsus$ hacker gang, resulted in Kurtaj being declared guilty by the court council (jury) Southwark Crown court last August. Although later there was a denial from the doctor who deemed him unfit to stand trial, because of the severe autism he suffered from.
At that time the doctor asked the jury to reconsider its decision, to really determine whether Kurtaj had indeed carried out his actions with criminal intent.
During the assessment or consideration process, Kurtaj received bail so he could remain in a hotel, with protection from the police. However, in the latest trial held last Thursday (21/12), it was revealed that while he was at the hotel he often carried out physical violence which resulted in dozens of reports of injuries, as well as destroying a number of items in the hotel.
What’s worse, even though he was under police protection while at the hotel, and without access to a laptop or computer, Kurtaj still carried out another cyber attack on Rockstar Games. Just using an Amazon Fire Stick, smartphone, keyboard and mouse that he had just bought at that time.
With this tool, he succeeded in stealing 90 unreleased Grand Theft Auto VI clips. Also managed to break into Rockstar Games’ internal Slack messaging system, and sent a message that if Rockstar did not contact him on Telegram within 24 hours, then he would start releasing the game’s source code and videos.
Not just a mere threat, Kurtaj finally actually posted the video and source code for the GTA VI game on a forum with his username TeaPotUberHacker. Because of his actions, he was thrown back into prison and detained until the court process last Thursday.
During the court process, it was also revealed that in a mental health examination carried out for assessment, it was discovered that Kurtaj continued to express his intention to re-commit cybercrime as soon as possible. So in the end the judge decided to sentence him to life imprisonment, although not in prison, but in hospital under special supervision.
Lifetime here also means forever, without a specified time limit, unless a doctor’s assessment states that it is no longer dangerous.
So far, Kurtaj is not the only member of the Lapsus$ hacker gang who has been sentenced. Because at the same time the Southwark Crown Court also sentenced a 17 year old member of Lapsus$.
In addition to the hacking he carried out with the Lapsus$ gang, the boy, whose identity is being withheld because he is still a minor, was also sentenced for what the judge described as “an unpleasant and frightening pattern of stalking and harassment” against two young women.
However, unlike Kurtaj, who was deemed dangerous and still likely to carry out hacking again, the 17-year-old was only sentenced to a Youth Rehabilitation Order for 18 months, under strict supervision and a ban on using online VPNs.
Apart from Kurtaj and the 17 year old teenager, there are actually still a number of members of the Lapsus$ gang who will still be sentenced, including it is estimated that there are still a number of others who have not yet been caught, aka fugitives.
2023-12-23 01:15:00
#GTA #Hacker #Autism #Sentenced #Life
