An 18-year-old hacker, who leaked clips of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game, has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order. Arion Kurtaj, a member of the international gang Lapsus$, was involved in attacks on tech giants including Uber, Nvidia, and Rockstar Games, resulting in losses of nearly $10 million for the companies. Due to his skills and continued desire to commit cyber-crime, the judge deemed Kurtaj to be a high risk to the public. He will remain in a secure hospital unless doctors determine that he is no longer a danger. Kurtaj’s severe autism led doctors to deem him unfit to stand trial, so the jury was asked to determine whether or not he committed the alleged acts, rather than if he did so with criminal intent. A mental health assessment revealed that he expressed the intent to return to cyber-crime as soon as possible. Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar Games and stole 90 clips of the unreleased Grand Theft Auto 6, which he then posted online. Another member of Lapsus$, a 17-year-old who cannot be named due to his age, was also found guilty in the same trial and received an 18-month Youth Rehabilitation Order. The gang’s attacks in 2021 and 2022 shocked the cyber-security world, and they were described as “digital bandits” in court. The US cyber-authorities issued a report on Lapsus$ and other teen hacker gangs, highlighting how easily they were able to infiltrate well-defended organizations. The amount of money made by Lapsus$ from their cyber-crimes is unknown, as no companies publicly admitted paying the hackers and the hackers did not provide access to seized cryptocurrency wallets.
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