The 18-year-old Lapsus$ hacker who played a critical role in leaking Grand Theft Auto VI footage has been sentenced to life inside a hospital prison, according to a report from the BBC. A British judge ruled on Thursday that Arion Kurtaj is a high risk to the public because he still wants to commit cybercrimes.
In August, a London jury found that Kurtaj carried out cyberattacks against GTA VI developer Rockstar Games and other companies, including Uber and Nvidia.
Since Kurtaj has autism and was deemed unfit to stand trial, the jury was asked to determine whether he committed the acts in question, not whether he did so with criminal intent.
Kurtaj was arrested for the final time following the incident.
Another 17-year-old involved with Lapsus$ was handed an 18-month community sentence, called a Youth Rehabilitation Order, and a ban from using virtual private networks.
The official trailer for GTA VI dropped earlier this month, racking up hundreds of millions of views even after the trove of videos leaked by Kurtaj and the trailer's premature release on X. While Kurtaj's defense asked the judge to take the trailer's success into account during the sentencing, the BBC says the judge argued that real companies and people were hurt by Lapsus$.
Rockstar Games said it spent $5 million recovering from the attack.
This Cyber News was published on www.theverge.com. Publication date: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 01:14:05 +0000