Hacker who leaked 'GTA 6' sentenced to 'indefinite imprisonment' in hospital
A teenage hacker who was taken into custody after leaking dozens of footage of the upcoming game Grand Theft Auto VI has been sentenced to indefinite imprisonment in a secure hospital.
The 18-year-old cyberpunk, identified to be Arion Kurtaj, was arrested back in September when he stole and leaked a total of 90 clips from the highly-anticipated action-adventure game. The incident has since been described as one of the biggest leaks in the history of the video game industry.
According to a report by BBC, a British judge presiding over the case has now ordered that Kurtaj be placed in a secure hospital until mental health professionals deem that he is no longer a threat.
Kurtaj was a key member of extortion-focused hacker group Lapsus$, which is known for its various cyberattacks against companies and government agencies. Due to his "severe autism," he was deemed unfit to stand trial.
However, after he was subjected to a mental health assessment, he "continued to express the intent to return to cyber-crime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated."
Aside from this, the court also received news that he had been displaying violent behavior while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage.
Because of these, the judge concluded that Kurtaj remains "a high risk of serious harm to the public through skill in gaining unfettered access to computers," as per Bloomberg.
The tech expert carried out the cyberattack against Rockstar Games while on bail for a previous hacking scheme. Despite having his laptop confiscated, he still managed to execute his most infamous attack using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel television, and his mobile phone.
He broke into the company's internal Slack messaging system to declare "if Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code."
Grand Theft Auto VI is due to be the eighth main game in the franchise, following Grand Theft Auto V that was relased way back in 2013. After Rockstar released its official trailer on YouTube, it has since broken several records such as becoming the most-liked game trailer within 24 hours.
The story follows an ex-convict named Lucia, the series' first female protagonist since 2000, as she teams up with an unnamed man to do criminal activities together.
It is set to have a 2025 release.