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
    2911·
    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
      398·
      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
        102·
        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
          102·
          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
          93·
          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
            210·
            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
              43·
              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.”

        • kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social
          4·
          11 months ago

          Although he stayed at a hotel under police protection during this time, Kurtaj still managed to carry out an attack on Rockstar Games by using the room’s included Amazon Fire Stick and a “newly purchased smart phone, keyboard and mouse,” according to a separate BBC report. Kurtaj was arrested for the final time following the incident.

          He already did it again, didn’t realize this was the one who did it again while on bail.

      • AnonTwo@kbin.social
        82·
        11 months ago

        Your wording is wrong. It’s a medical life sentence. It would be cleared immediately on doctor approval.

      • FaceDeer@kbin.social
        104·
        11 months ago

        He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.

        These sorts of sentences aren’t really “life”, they’re “life until you’re cured.”

        • ULS@lemmy.ml
          35·
          11 months ago

          The hard part of it is that the system is so lame that they are probably going to do more damage to him in turn making him have to stay longer.

          • FaceDeer@kbin.social
            51·
            11 months ago

            Indeed, but if we wait for everything to be perfect nothing will ever get done. Reforms of the system can continue alongside treatment.

            • stephan262@lemmy.world
              23·
              11 months ago

              I guess we’ll have to just lock him up while we figure out some way of stopping him committing cybercrime. If only there were some way of preventing him from committing this crime that requires access to a computer to commit. I guess he’ll just have to stay trapped in a phyche ward until society can figure this one out.

              Sorry for being snarky and sarcastic, I know what you mean and agree with you. My sarcasm is directed more at the judges ruling and your comment is just what sparked me to write it.

              • FaceDeer@kbin.social
                71·
                11 months ago

                It’s not the cybercrime that he’s in the mental hospital over. He’s been physically violent as well.

          • FaceDeer@kbin.social
            104·
            11 months ago

            You think he’s been charged with autism? Most autistic people aren’t a danger to the people around them. That’s the problem here.

            • Deceptichum@kbin.social
              48·
              11 months ago

              Hacks private companies

              Danger to the public

              Get off it mate, it’s not like he’s a cop. There’s no danger to you or I.

              He was no danger to anyone before being locked up and deprived of liberty, in which case he started acting out as anyone would.

              • FaceDeer@kbin.social
                101·
                11 months ago

                Hacks private companies and threatens to release their users’ data.

                Smashes physical stuff and beats up physical people after he’s taken into custody. Note that he hasn’t actually gone to trial yet, so this is what he’s currently in the mental hospital for. You really think “anyone” would start beating people up when taken into custody? Why isn’t everyone doing that?

                • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  11 months ago

                  Yeah I’m not so much concerned for the property he’s damaging, but moreso the act of damaging. That points to instability, violence, and poor impulse control.

              • AnonTwo@kbin.social
                6·
                11 months ago

                Get off it mate, it’s not like he’s a cop. There’s no danger to you or I.

                .

                During Thursday’s hearing, the court heard Kurtaj “had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage,”

                Uhh no he was a danger to people. Actually how did you get down to this comment without reading the top of the branch that already quoted this part of the article?

                  • FaceDeer@kbin.social
                    2·
                    11 months ago

                    Most people are able to restrain themselves from physically attacking people in those circumstances. Why is it okay to try to beat up people when you’re being lawfully detained? Even the countries that recognize prisoners having a “right to attempt escape” still charge them with whatever crimes they did in the course of attempting to escape, such as assaulting guards.

                  • redfellow@sopuli.xyz
                    1·
                    11 months ago

                    He was detained by public servants for breaking the laws of the community, and then attempted to injure them because he doesn’t handle “no” well.

                    It doesn’t matter if you are autistic or a rich entitled kid, or druggie, you play by the rules or you suffer the consequences of your choices.