In September 2022, the gaming world was rocked by the release of 90 video clips showing unfinished gameplay of the long-awaited triple-A blockbuster title Grand Theft Auto 6. The clips were quickly taken down, but not before they had been seen by millions of people.
The investigation into the leak eventually led to the arrest of an 18-year-old boy Arion Kurtaj in the UK. The boy was a member of the Lapsuss$ hacker group. Lapsus$ is a loosely organized group of hackers who have been linked to a number of high-profile data breaches, including those affecting Microsoft, Nvidia, and Okta.
Before hacking Rockstar, Kurtaj was arrested for the second time after the Nvidia breach of February 2022. He was kept in a Travelodge hotel in Bicester due to safety concerns. The police had strict bail conditions for him, including barring him from using the internet. However, that was not enough to prevent him from continuing his hacks.
GTA 6 Gameplay Leaked via Amazon Fire TV Stick
According to a BBC report, Kurtaj used a simple Amazon Fire TV Stick, a smartphone, a keyboard, and a mouse to infiltrate Rockstar’s cloud services. He accessed the internet through the hotel’s television, despite his bailed conditions that barred him from using the internet.
He then stole unfinished gameplay clips of Grand Theft Auto VI and messaged Rockstar employees on Slack, claiming to be an attacker and threatening to release the source code if they didn’t contact him on Telegram.
Meanwhile, around 90 clips of the game were later released on the GTA Forums on September 18, 2022. It is not clear if the teenager was the one who leaked the footage since it was posted under the alias “TeaPotUberHacker” on a GTA fan forum. But Kurtaj was arrested again and detained for trial shortly after.
Presumably, the GTA 6 leaker was likely assisted by other members of the hacker group. A 17-year-old accomplice, who operated in England and Brazil, was also put on trial for his involvement in these cyber attacks.
Rockstar Games has not released any official information about GTA 6 yet, but it is expected to be released in 2024. In the meantime, fans can revisit Grand Theft Auto V across multiple platforms.
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