The hack cost Rockstar Games $5 million.

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. However, 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.

  • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2412·
    11 months ago

    During Thursday’s hearing, the court heard Kurtaj “had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage,” the BBC reports. A mental health assessment also found that Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.” He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.

    Sounds like dude has some stuff to work out mentally

    • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
      349·
      11 months ago

      He has autism. It affects the brain in very specific ways for each individual, but in general Executive function is the first thing to go when in stressful situations. You know, emotional regulation and self control? And I also guarantee that the cops and guards were treating him like shit. They LOVE picking on disabled people. I have no doubt most of the charges and incidents were exacerbated by the people in charge.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        113·
        11 months ago

        The dude committed crimes while on bail. Autism doesn’t excuse that, and even if it did, it’s still a problem that needs to be dealt with.

        A mental health assessment used as part of the sentencing hearing said he “continued to express the intent to return to cyber-crime as soon as possible. He is highly motivated.”

        The jury was told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a Travelodge hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack.

        Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.

        Nothing is being trumped up, here. The kid is just brazen about this.

        • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
          103·
          11 months ago

          This kid wasn’t arrested for having autism. It was for brazenly commiting crimes, and even when he was released on bail, he committed even more crimes in police protection.

          The jury was told that while he was on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE and in police protection at a Travelodge hotel, he continued hacking and carried out his most infamous hack.

          Despite having his laptop confiscated, Kurtaj managed to breach Rockstar, the company behind GTA, using an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV and a mobile phone.

          This is not some poor autistic kid that’s getting picked on by cops, he’s a highly capable hacker expressing a explicit intent to continue to break the law and cause harm to both individuals and corporations.

          • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.worldEnglish
            41·
            11 months ago

            Never said he was getting picked by cops on or arrested for having autism.

            the court heard that the 17-year-old and Kurtaj used stolen SIM details from five victims to steal a total of nearly £100,000 from their cryptocurrency accounts which were secured by their compromised mobile phone SIM identities.

            He is a hacker and a thief that has a lot of work to do psychologically

        • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
          94·
          11 months ago

          Umm… look the fuck around? All cops are bastards. Mental health facilities aren’t better. I was a kid in a couple, and worked at one myself. There are good staff, yeah, but there’s also a 99% fucking chance that every kid will encounter a bad one. And there’s a lot of bad ones. If youre lucky theyre lazy and just neglect you. Others have little patience and are likely to yell and chastise during an incident. They’ll do vindictive little things to mentally ill children because theyve had to write an incident report. They’ll taunt and goad kids into being aggressive. They’ll ABSOLUTELY make all kinds of disparaging comments about the kids.

          I have seen it all, far too often. Its absolutely rampant.

          • vatniksplatnik@lemm.ee
            312·
            11 months ago

            So zero evidence the cops and guards in this case did anything wrong. Thanks for being honest about lying =)

            • toasteecup@lemmy.worldEnglish
              23·
              11 months ago

              Going to be honest, I think you need to go back to reddit.

              None of what you say seems to be in good faith whereas the person you’re replying to is at least giving personal experiences from both being a kid in that system and having worked in it as an adult.

              Downvote haraas and insult me all you want, won’t change the fact that you aren’t contributing to a better community or dialogue.

              • vatniksplatnik@lemm.ee
                34·
                11 months ago

                I think you need to go back to reddit.

                Or else what? You’ll do something to me? You’ll downvote me?

                • toasteecup@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  33·
                  11 months ago

                  I’m not going to do anything, I’m just making a suggestion based on your overly aggressive and hostile comments.

                  I would say it’s rather telling that you just assume someone is going to “do something to you” when they give you a suggestion though.

                  Might be worth taking a step back from the Internet and figuring out what’s causing you to be such an angry person. Might even help lower your blood pressure.

                  • vatniksplatnik@lemm.ee
                    32·
                    11 months ago

                    I would say it’s rather telling that you just assume someone is going to “do something to you”

                    Interesting, because that’s exactly what you did.

                    Downvote haraas and insult me all you want

                  • vatniksplatnik@lemm.ee
                    25·
                    11 months ago

                    User: I guarantee abuse is happening

                    Me: Bullshit, there’s no evidence for that

                    User: Bootlicker!

                    User2: Both of you behave

                    Guess Im a bootlicker who needs to behave. Sorry for having an opinion and keeping to the facts. My bad bro. I won’t ever speak my mind again I’ve learned my lesson

      • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.worldEnglish
        92·
        11 months ago

        No. But you also can’t say I’m going to go straight back to commitmenting the exact same crime asap

        A mental health assessment also found that Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.”