SUMMARY
- Rockstar Games was a victim a massive hack that leaked a ton of early GTA 6 footage.
- Arion Kurtaj, the teenage hacker from the group Lapsus$, was the individual responsible for the leaks.
Recently, the hacker behind GTA 6 leaks was convicted in a UK court. 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj was arrested back in 2022 for hacking and leaking information about Rockstar Games’ upcoming project GTA 6. During the trial several things came to light.
After Rockstar Games initially announced its upcoming game GTA 6 back in February 2022, several rumors and leaks regarding the game started surfacing on the internet. However, the biggest and the most controversial among them was the one by the notorious hacker group Lapsus$.
Post the leak, a UK court had arrested Arion along with one of his 17-year-old aid as key members of the group behind the leaks. The group had stolen data by hacking into Rockstar’s systems and leaked as many as 90 unseen videos from the game, revealing several crucial details about the game. Later, when arrested, Arion revealed how he hacked into Rockstar’s system from a hotel room using just an Amazon Firestick.
How did GTA 6 leaks cost Rockstar $5 million?
While the hack and leaks did reveal a lot of details about the game that fans were desperately waiting for, it came as a shock for both the developer Rockstar as well as for the fans. It was shocking to know that a teenager hacked into the internal Slack communications system of a company as big as Rockstar Games, that too using something as common as an Amazon Firestick.
I’m at the long-delayed sentencing of GTA hacker Arion Kurtaj and his 17 year old accomplice who joined him on a hacking spree of tech giants last year for the Lapsus gang. For the first time during the court case Kurtaj is appearing via video link. https://t.co/jjSLiIDQz3
— Joe Tidy (@joetidy) December 8, 2023
While the leaked clips quickly went viral, several members of the community condemned the hack since it was unethical. Recently during a court trial, which Arion reportedly attended via a video call from Feltham Youth Prison, Rockstar Games claimed that the leaks cost them “$5 million in recovery along with thousands of hours of staff time.”
Notably the exact details of how it cost them the claimed amount were not discussed during the trial nor has Rockstar clarified them. However, they did mention an ambiguous term “in recovery.” It is assumed that the hacks and leaks cost the company $5 million to get their systems back in place and further secure the systems.
Since the hackers had already got into the systems, it must have cost Rockstar a decent sum to recover the system from the hold of the hackers. Secondly, there was no way Rockstar could have the systems be the way they were after recovery. They must have applied more security measures to avoid such attacks in the future. Researching and incorporating the new measures is also an expensive process.
What happened to Arion Kurtaj?
The UK court has held the hacker guilty of the crime. Consequently, the teenager has been sentenced to “an indefinite hospital order.” This implies that Arion Kurtaj will stay in a protected hospital for the rest of his life unless doctors believe he is no longer a danger.
🚨 Breaking : GTA 6 leaked gameplay hacker Arion Kurtaj has been sentenced to be in hospital for life unless deemed no longer a danger#GTA6 pic.twitter.com/3hzLqAPKnT
— GTA (@GTAVIAR) December 21, 2023
The verdict was announced after taking into account Arion’s psychiatric reports. During his police custody, Arion was found to be violent and even harming others and destroying property. Besides, he told his psychiatrist that he wished to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.
His 17-year-old friend, meanwhile, has been sentenced to an 18-month-long Youth Rehabilitation Order. This includes intense supervision and a ban on using VPNs.