GTA6 hacker sentenced to indefinite secure hospital order by UK judge

DinkyDev · Dec 21, 2023

The teen hacker who leaked footage of Rockstar Games Inc.'s upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI installment and hacked into technology firm Nvidia Corp. was placed in a secure hospital by a British judge.

Arion Kurtaj, 18, and a 17-year-old male, who can't be identified, were convicted of being part of the notorious hacking group Lapsus$. They were found guilty of serious computer misuse, blackmail and fraud against BT Group Plc.'s EE network and Nvidia in August after a seven-week criminal trial. Kurtaj was also found to have hacked into Uber Technologies Inc., fintech firm Revolut Ltd., and Rockstar Games.

Judge Patricia Lees ruled Kurtaj should be placed in a secure hospital until a mental health tribunal decides he can leave in the future. Lees found Kurtaj was still fixated with hacking and likely to offend again. Kurtaj was previously found unfit to stand a traditional trial because of his complex autistic-spectrum disorder.

Kurtaj remained "a high risk of serious harm to the public through skill in gaining unfettered access to computers," Lees said at Guildford Crown Court on Thursday. She said there was also a risk of online hackers enticing him into further crimes.

Teen Who Leaked ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ as Part of Lapsus$ Gang Put in Secure Hospital by UK Judge

The teen hacker who leaked footage of Rockstar Games Inc.’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI installment and hacked into technology firm Nvidia Corp. was placed in a secure hospital by a British judge.

www.bloomberg.com

AuthenticM · Dec 21, 2023

hopefully he gets good treatment.

Mattmo831 · Dec 21, 2023

glad this kid was sentanced in the UK cause in america they would through him in general pop for a year or two and not give him mental health treatment

pswii60 · Dec 21, 2023

I really hope he gets the help he needs to put his gifted talent to good use, one that could see him turn his life around and make a positive contribution to society. But who am I kidding, the system will ensure his life is ruined.

Toumari · Dec 21, 2023

The jury was told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a Travelodge hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack.

Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.

Wild.

Qikz · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

Guys an absolute genius. I hope he gets the treatment he needs and then maybe can work in cyber security or something - lots of hackers end up going that route and honestly they're the best people to actually make cyber security better.

Bardeh · Dec 21, 2023

Dude just casually hacking R* with a Firestick whilst under police supervision in a Travelodge, like wtf. He's surely supremely talented and if he could put those skills to positive use has an extremely bright future.

CenaToon · Dec 21, 2023

People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

Ferrio · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

This gets him the recognition though to be noticed for such positions.

Bardeh · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

He has what's described as 'complex' autism and likely hasn't had much treatment or guidance for that. Hopefully he can get the help he needs and use his talent for something purposeful. Writing him off as childish and malicious seems a little unkind given what we know about him.

Dyle · Dec 21, 2023

Makes sense, the poor kid clearly needs help and separation from the internet

ghostcrew · Dec 21, 2023

There's a non-paywalled story at the BBC if anyone wants the details there

Lapsus$: GTA 6 hacker handed indefinite hospital order

Judge says hacker remains a high risk through his skills and motivation to carry out cyber crime.

www.bbc.co.uk

TheGummyBear · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

What's difficult to understand about him having a complex autism spectrum disorder? It's why he's being sentenced to a mental health ward, not jail.

Hopefully they can manage to ease him off of his obsession with hacking and finding him a healthier outlet to work with.

data · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

Holy shit. I hope he takes his talents and repurposes it for cyber security.

AAION · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

This is way past tweeting from the lg smart fridge levels of tech mcguyverism lol

Reven Wolf · Dec 21, 2023

Mattmo831 said:
glad this kid was sentanced in the UK cause in america they would through him in general pop for a year or two and not give him mental health treatment

My thoughts as well. Hopefully the treatment will help and he'll have a bright future in program engineering because it definitely seems that he's got talent. Cybersecurity would unironically be a fantastic path for him to follow eventually if his passion for software remains.

Pesmerga · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

Wait WTF

ghostcrew · Dec 21, 2023

I hope he can funnel his skills into something more useful but it sounds like they've got their hands full. Hopefully he gets good care in the secure hospital.

The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage.

A mental health assessment used as part of the sentencing hearing said he "continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated."

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.

Dis · Dec 21, 2023

Good, the right outcome. I'm glad that he can hopefully get the help he needs.

Mattmo831 said:
glad this kid was sentanced in the UK cause in america they would through him in general pop for a year or two and not give him mental health treatment

Yep, we had people in a pervious thread on this saying stuff like the uk is a joke in the cyber security industry for being too soft on people like this with mental health issues who break the law and hack companies etc and let them off easy. It's infuriating that an expert in mental health (sometimes multiple of them with first hand treatment of the person) say they need that and not to be thrown in jail and era members will still act like it's not real and is being faked to avoid jail time.

ghostcrew said:
I hope he can funnel his skills into something more useful but it sounds like they've got their hands full. Hopefully he gets good care in the secure hospital.

It can be hard to stop doing things that you get hyper focused and obsessed with when you have an autism spectrum disorder. I've been there growing up as well, and when that stuff is removed it's almost a withdrawal effect where you lash out and such. Hopefully in time it passes for him as it did myself and he can find something more positive to be focused on.

Nolbertos · Dec 21, 2023

I read about this article online. The kid has an autism spectrum level of genius. I hope the kids gets serious medical help as he could definitely improve society for the better with his skills.

Lamine · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

nah this kid is an actual genius

EagleClaw · Dec 21, 2023

Hacking Rockstar with an amazon fire tv stick, hotel tv and mobile phone is something.
This guy could have had a really good future.

Praetorpwj · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

wargames-1983-02-g.0.0-e1617710437187.jpg

CenaToon · Dec 21, 2023

Bardeh said:
He has what's described as 'complex' autism and likely hasn't had much treatment or guidance for that. Hopefully he can get the help he needs and use his talent for something purposeful. Writing him off as childish and malicious seems a little unkind given what we know about him.

TheGummyBear said:
What's difficult to understand about him having a complex autism spectrum disorder? It's why he's being sentenced to a mental health ward, not jail.

Hopefully they can manage to ease him off of his obsession with hacking and finding him a healthier outlet to work with.

I agree and adhere to the sentiment of hopes of him finding help and can be a valuable contribution to society in the future.

We just got a massive security breach like that in other company 2 days ago that also got people's personal id breached and exposed. I never asked or implied in my previous message for jail for this person or be punished.

Mesoian · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

He's 18. He will be eyed for those positions for the rest of his life.

His life is far from over.

PLASTICA-MAN · Dec 21, 2023

So just two teens hacked GTA and one of them is considered having mental issues. I really doubt the group who hacked Insomniac is just 2 teens but a more serious one. The damage they dealt to Insomniac is much more imo cus it affected even employees and even other Sony first parties.

ResetGreyWolf · Dec 21, 2023

Ferrio said:
This gets him the recognition though to be noticed for such positions.

Anyone can become a white hat hacker at Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, etc. without having any name or any credentials. They have open programs for white hat hackers. And yes, they pay incredibly well.

He didn't need any recognition to start making incredible money

Fergie · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

The BBC article is illuminating.

Kurtaj aided by Lapsus$ associates, hacked the servers and data files of telecoms company BT and EE, the mobile operator, before demanding a $4m (£3.1m) ransom on 1 August 2021.

The hackers sent out threatening text messages to 26,000 EE customers
No ransom was paid but the court heard that the 17-year-old and Kurtaj used stolen SIM details from five victims to steal a total of nearly £100,000 from their cryptocurrency accounts which were secured by their compromised mobile phone SIM identities.

Hacking spree two
That did not deter the duo who continued hacking with Lapsus$ and successfully breached Nvidia, a Silicon Valley tech giant that makes chips for artificial intelligence chatbots, in February 2022.
They stole and leaked sensitive and valuable data and demanded a ransom payment to stop them releasing more.
The jury were shown Telegram group chats of the gang instructing someone they'd hired to call the Nvidia staff help desk pretending to be an employee in an attempt to get log in details for the firm.
In other hacks the gang spammed employee phones late at night with access approval requests until staff said yes.
Kurtaj and the youth were both re-arrested on March 31st 2022.
Shortly before his arrest, Kurtaj was "doxxed" by rival hackers who posted his and his families contact details online along with pictures and videos of the keen fisherman from social media.

Prosecutors say he was "caught red handed" when City of London Police searched his hotel room.
In a "flagrant disregard for his bail conditions", jurors were told that police found an Amazon Fire Stick in his hotel TV allowing him to connect to cloud computing services with a newly purchased smart phone, keyboard and mouse.
The court heard he had helped attack Revolut, Uber and Rockstar Games.

His final hack against the game-maker was described as his "most audacious" as Kurtaj posted a message on the company Slack messaging service to all employees, stating: "I am not a Rockstar employee, I am an attacker."
He declared that he had downloaded all data for Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar's hugely popular video game series, adding that "if Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code".
Meanwhile, 90 video clips of unfinished gameplay for the highly-anticipated new game were also published on a fan forum under the username TeaPotUberHacker.
Kurtaj was re-arrested and detained until his trial.

Seems like this is a big obsession for him, lots of work to be done. Insane ability though.

TheGummyBear · Dec 21, 2023

ghostcrew said:
I hope he can funnel his skills into something more useful but it sounds like they've got their hands full. Hopefully he gets good care in the secure hospital.

Going by the bbc article, the harassment of the two young women was the unnamed 17 year old who was sentenced to an 18 month rehabilitation order, not Kurtaj.

Another Lapsus$ member, who is 17 and cannot be named because of his age, was found guilty in the same trial, which 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 four million dollar 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.

asmith906 · Dec 21, 2023

Because he's on the Spectrum he honestly got a slap on the wrist.

He targeted Revolut, accessing around 5,000 Revolut customers' information, and then Uber two days later, causing nearly $3 million of damage to Uber, prosecutors said.

He had previously hacked and blackmailed Britain's biggest broadband provider BT Group (BT.L) and mobile operator EE in 2021, demanding a $4 million ransom.

Kurtaj also hacked chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) in February 2022, taking around one terabyte of data, releasing about 80 gigabytes and threatening to publish the rest.

A jury in August found Kurtaj committed 12 offences, including three counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud and six charges under the Computer Misuse Act

Foffy · Dec 21, 2023

Dude sounds generally talented, if you can look at his abilities and pluck them away from hacking crimes here.

Hope he can use his talents in more positive ways. We really need these hacker types to stop going after movie and game companies and start exposing walls of corruption from the monied elite. Imagine a hacker bringing us the Pentagon or the Afghanistan or the Panama Papers. I want that world.

Vex · Dec 21, 2023

The details of this story are insane:

The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage.

Doctors deemed Kurtaj unfit to stand trial due to his acute autism so the jury was asked to determine whether or not he 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 the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated."

The jury was told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a Travelodge hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack.

Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.

A fucking firestick

Deleted member 8579 · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

When I watch TV and films thinking this is nonsense.

Huh.

sbenji · Dec 21, 2023

Ferrio said:
This gets him the recognition though to be noticed for such positions.

Not really as most companies will not touch him due to the severity of the charges.

TheGummyBear · Dec 21, 2023

asmith906 said:
Because he's on the Spectrum he honestly got a slap on the wrist.

He targeted Revolut, accessing around 5,000 Revolut customers' information, and then Uber two days later, causing nearly $3 million of damage to Uber, prosecutors said.

He had previously hacked and blackmailed Britain's biggest broadband provider BT Group (BT.L) and mobile operator EE in 2021, demanding a $4 million ransom.

Kurtaj also hacked chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) in February 2022, taking around one terabyte of data, releasing about 80 gigabytes and threatening to publish the rest.

A jury in August found Kurtaj committed 12 offences, including three counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud and six charges under the Computer Misuse Act

I don't know how someone judged by criminal psychologists unable to attend court being held indefinitely is a slap on the wrist. Mental health wards are not a walk in the park for anyone.

Its very likely we aren't talking about a spectrum disorder like what used to be known as "aspergers" but someone who needs genuine medical help to overcome their hyper fixation. Which could end up being much longer than the 18 months the unnamed 17 year old was sentenced for.

dex3108 · Dec 21, 2023

MI6 is already preparing office for him XD

senj · Dec 21, 2023

asmith906 said:
Because he's on the Spectrum he honestly got a slap on the wrist.

I don't know that I'd call indefinite commitment to a mental hospital a slap on the wrist exactly. Also I don't think it's just a simple matter of being on the spectrum; plenty of people are on the spectrum, very few have a compulsive fixation on committing crimes.

The only similar case I'm aware of is Darius McCollum, who has spent most of his life in and out of jail due to a compulsive fixation on driving public transit vehicles. There's seemingly no level of punishment here that would accomplish anything, treatment is the only approach that makes sense.

Sems4arsenal · Dec 21, 2023

Either he is a genius or Cyber Security is a hack

Dreezy · Dec 21, 2023

We need him to hunt down the Insomniac hackers.

Toybasher · Dec 21, 2023

Seems like one of those savants. Would probably make an excellent cybersecurity pen-tester/whitehat hacker. Doesn't excuse the blackmail and ransom though. Reminds me of Frank Abagnale, almost.

Pacote · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

Hes 18... its understandable.

He got plenty of recognition he needs for future hiring when he gets out

TonyBaduy · Dec 21, 2023

CenaToon said:
People like him could had a notorius wealthy life because the industry pays a lot for people with that kind of talent.

But no, they chose to do childish and malicious shit. I will never understand that.

He is autistic and seems his obsession is with hacking, it's what drives him and seems nothing will stop him without some therapy first. That's why he was put in a hospital.

Lashley · Dec 21, 2023

Hope he receives the help he needs, then he can use his talents for betterment.

TonyBaduy · Dec 21, 2023

Ferrio said:
This gets him the recognition though to be noticed for such positions.

He didn't do this for recognition, but because he liked it. He has a pure drive to hack, no matter the consequences.

Tovarisc · Dec 21, 2023

Most likely outcome is that he will never leave that facility, they will hold him locked up for rest of his life.

Belker · Dec 21, 2023

Nolbertos said:
I read about this article online. The kid has an autism spectrum level of genius. I hope the kids gets serious medical help as he could definitely improve society for the better with his skills.

Just a small point - I'm not sure that autism somehow leads to intelligence in some way. He sounds like a very intelligent guy whose autism lends itself to using that intelligence in a particular way.

ZmillA · Dec 21, 2023

When I hear secure mental facility, I don't think about people getting the help they need :(

Vulcano's Assistant · Dec 21, 2023

ZmillA said:
When I hear secure mental facility, I don't think about people getting the help they need :(

Weren't these kind of places banned in the 1960s or similar? Or maybe they were just privatized?

I thought that was the reason there's so many buildings abandoned that used to be mental hospitals.

TheGummyBear · Dec 21, 2023

Vulcano's Assistant said:
Weren't these kind of places banned in the 1960s or similar? Or maybe they were just privatized?

I thought that was the reason there's so many buildings abandoned that used to be mental hospitals.

What do you mean? We aren't talking about a "mental hospital" like you see in a particular movie starring Jack Nicholson. We are talking about a mental health ward of a hospital, which absolutely still exist, and provide all kinds of important functions.

Where do you think someone sectioned under the mental health act of 1983 ends up being held?

Stencil · Dec 21, 2023

Toumari said:
Wild.

Impressive, honestly. Hope he gets the help he needs, seems like he's got some serious capabilities.

Foffy said:
Hope he can use his talents in more positive ways. We really need these hacker types to stop going after movie and game companies and start exposing walls of corruption from the monied elite. Imagine a hacker bringing us the Pentagon or the Afghanistan or the Panama Papers. I want that world.

Wait yeah wtf that's a good point.

GTA6 hacker sentenced to indefinite secure hospital order by UK judge

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