GTA 6 hacker has been deemed unfit to stand trial
Teen threatened to release GTA 6's source code in a Slack message, say prosecutors.
The teenager charged with hacking and then blackmailing a string of companies, including Uber, Nvidia, and GTA 6 developer Rockstar, has been deemed unfit to stand trial.
18-year-old Arion Kurtaj – who was 17 when, as part of the Lapsus$ hacking group, they leaked dozens of assets taken from the then-unannounced Grand Theft Auto 6 – is standing trial for 12 offences, including three counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud, and six counts under the Computer Misuse Act.
According to Reuters, the teenager hacked Rockstar and sent a Slack message to all Rockstar staff, threatening to release the source code.
A second teenager, who, at 17, has not been named, has also been charged with two counts of blackmail, two counts of fraud, and three charges under the Computer Misuse Act, although they are not thought to have been involved in hacking Rockstar Games.
Reuters says the teenager has now been "assessed by psychiatrists as not fit to stand trial", and a jury will not determine if Kurtaj is guilty, but instead decide if they did or did not commit the acts.
Kurtaj has previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and two offences under the Computer Misuse Act, as well as breaching bail conditions.
The enormous Grand Theft Auto 6 leak of work-in-progress development materials occurred last September, leaking 90+ screenshots and videos.
In a statement published when the company returned to work, Rockstar admitted it had suffered a "network intrusion" - a hack - from which the early development footage of GTA 6 had been taken and acknowledged it was "extremely disappointed" at what had happened.