A teenager accused of hacking and blackmailing a number of companies, including uber, Nvidia and Rockstar, the developer of GTA 6, has been found unfit to stand trial.
The teenager, named Arion Kurtaj, 18, stole dozens of materials from the yet-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto 6 and leaked them online last September as part of the Lapsus$ hacking group.
Kurtaj reportedly breached Rockstar’s systems and sent a Slack message to all Rockstar employees threatening to release the game’s source code. He is also suspected of 12 charges, including three counts of extortion, two counts of fraud and six counts of violating the Computer Misuse Act. He has pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, two counts of violating the Computer Misuse Act, and violating bail conditions.
Another 17-year-old was also charged with two counts of extortion, two counts of fraud and three counts of violating the Computer Misuse Act, but he was not involved in hacking Rockstar games. Kurtaj was evaluated by a psychiatrist and found unfit to stand trial, so the jury will not rule on his guilt or innocence, but will only decide whether or not he committed the acts, Reuters said.
In September of last year, a large amount of development footage for GTA 6 was leaked online, including more than 90 screenshots and videos, and Rockstar followed up with a statement admitting that it had been subjected to a “cyber-intrusion” and that hackers had stolen early development footage for GTA 6, which the company said it was “extremely concerned about. The company said it was “extremely disappointed”.
