London, Aug 27, 2023 (IANS): Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old member of infamous hacking group Lapsus$, used just an Amazon Fire TV stick, smartphone, keyboard and mouse to hack into the Rockstar Games which created the Grand Theft Auto VI game.
A court found that Kurtej from Oxford leaked clips of the unreleased Grand Theft Auto 6 game while on bail in a Travelodge hotel in the UK, reports the BBC.
Kurtaj was moved to the hotel after hackers “doxxed” him, releasing detailed information about him and his family online.
While he was allowed no internet access at the budget hotel while on bail, he used the Fire TV Stick to hack into the Rockstar Games, the report mentioned.
The attacks by Lapsus$ in 2021 and 2022 on tech firms had shocked the cyber security world.
Kurtaj is autistic and psychiatrists deemed him not fit to stand trial so he did not appear in court to give evidence, the report mentioned.
Another 17-year-old who is also autistic was convicted for his involvement in the activities of the Lapsus$ gang but cannot be named because of his age.
The group from the UK, and allegedly Brazil, was described in court as “digital bandits”.
“During their spree, the hackers regularly celebrated their crimes publicly and taunted victims on the social network app Telegram in English and Portuguese,” the report said.
Kurtaj, along with Lapsus$ associates, hacked the servers and data files of telecoms company BT and EE, the mobile operator, before demanding a $4 million ransom.
The hackers sent out threatening text messages to 26,000 EE customers.
The 17-year-old and Kurtaj used stolen SIM details from five victims to steal a total of nearly 100,000 pounds from their crytpocurrency accounts.
Both defendants were initially arrested in January 2022, then released under investigation. Kurtaj and the youth were both re-arrested on March 31, 2022.
Kurtaj is remanded in custody and the 17-year-old defendant continues to have bail, according to the report.(IANS)
