The massive Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI leak last year, which left Rockstar Games in damage control mode, was carried out by a hacker who was already on bail for reportedly hacking Nvidia.
What’s surprising is that he did it all from a hotel room in the U.K., using only an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a smartphone, a keyboard and a mouse.
The GTA VI hacker, identified as Arion Kurtaj, is a member of Lapsus$, a hacking group comprised of teenagers from Brazil and the United Kingdom.
According to the BBC, Kurtaj was placed in a UK Travelodge hotel by officials after his personal information was exposed online by other hackers, putting him and his family at risk. He was supposed to have no internet access in the hotel but found a way to bypass that restriction with a Fire TV Stick.
Using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a smartphone, a keyboard and a mouse, Kurtaj hacked his way into confidential files related to GTA VI, arguably one of the most anticipated games in the industry. Upon getting in, Kurtaj said “I am not a Rockstar employee, I am an attacker,” in the company’s Slack channel, and leaked some of the clips of the upcoming title.
He even threatened that if Rockstar didn’t contact him on Telegram within 24 hours, he would release the title’s source code.
Kurtaj’s illegal activities came to light after a seven-week trial involving another 17-year-old hacker who was convicted but remains out on bail.
Read more about the incident here.
Image credit: Shutterstock
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