Teen who hacked Rockstar and leaked GTA VI sentenced to indefinite stay in secure hospital

An 18-year-old hacker, Arion Kurtaj, who leaked 90 footage clips of the unreleased video game Grand Theft Auto VI and launched cyberattacks on companies like Uber and Nvidia, has been sentenced to indefinite detention in a secure hospital by a British judge. While out on bail awaiting sentencing for previous cyberattacks and despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj carried out his Grand Theft Auto hack. According to the BBC, he accomplished the hack with an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel TV and his mobile phone. He was able to breach the company’s internal messaging system and wrote, “if Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code.” Ultimately, he posted the code and clips of the video game shortly thereafter.

Kurtaj, a member of the international hacking group Lapsus$, was convicted in August for hacking, fraud, and extortion. Doctors deemed him unfit to stand trial due to severe autism. The judge ruled that Kurtaj should be placed in a secure hospital until mental health professionals determine he no longer poses a risk to the public.