Written by Moanes Hawass Monday, December 25, 2023 10:00 PM The teenager who stole 90 clips as part of a game piracy campaign was sentenced. Grand Theft Auto 6was imprisoned indefinitely in hospital.
According to the British newspaper theGuardian, Arion Kurtag, 18 years old, who suffers from autism, had been released on bail for hacking into the software company Nvidia and BT/EE. He was under police surveillance in a Travelodge hotel, but he continued his hacking operations and hacked into Rockstar Games. It is the company behind GTA, the court heard.
Although his laptop was confiscated, Kurtag carried out his cyberattack using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and his mobile phone, hacking into the company’s internal Slack messaging system to announce: “If Rockstar doesn’t contact me on Telegram within 24 hours, I will start releasing the source code.” “.
Kurtag, from the University of Oxford and a member of the Lapsus$ hacking group, posted the clips and source code on a forum and, according to the report, will remain in a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem he no longer poses a risk, Southwark Crown Court heard on Thursday.
This case prompted the City of London Police to advise parents to be aware of their children’s use of the Internet.
The court heard that Kurtag had been violent while in custody, with dozens of reports of injuries or property damage, and doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism. The jury was asked to determine whether or not he had committed the alleged acts, not If he did so with criminal intent.
A mental health assessment used as part of the sentencing hearing said he “continued to express his intention to return to cybercrime as soon as possible”, adding: “He is very motivated.”
Another Lapsus$ member, who is 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty at the same trial of two counts of fraud, two counts under the Computer Misuse Act and one count of blackmail, and was sentenced to a youth rehabilitation order at Guildford Crown Court in Surrey on Thursday. .
As part of the order, he will have an 18-month supervision requirement, a six-month rehabilitation requirement, and a three-month intensive supervision and monitoring requirement. DCS Amanda Horsburgh, of the City of London Police, said: “This case serves as an example of the dangers young people can be drawn to. While being online and the dire consequences this can have on someone’s wider future.
“Many young people want to explore how technology works and what vulnerabilities exist. This can include learning programming, interacting with like-minded individuals online and experimenting with tools.
“Unfortunately, the digital world can also be alluring to young people for the wrong reasons.”
The cyber attacks launched by the gang between August 2020 and September 2022 affected a telecommunications company, a computer parts manufacturer, gaming companies, and others, and Rockstar Games told the court that the hack cost it $5 million to recover from, in addition to thousands of hours of employee time.
