GTA6 trailer hacker sentenced to life in hospital prison

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

Summary

2023-12-04 the trailer for GTA6 was leaked ahead of time, with an embossed disclaimer to "BUY BTC"

 

One hacker instrumental to the hack was revealed to be an 18 years old autistic, part of the notorious Lapsus$ group. A number of teenage cospirators are held by the authorities

 

The hacker was deemed unfit to stand trial and was quickly sentenced to life in prison in an hospital ward, the jury was asked not to judge intent, but just to judge if the Hacker had committed the fact, to be released if the doctors ever deems the hacker to no longer be a risk

 

Rockstar claims a five million dollar loss due to the hack

 

Quotes

Quote

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.

 

My thoughts

 

Life in prison for corporate hacking seems disproportionate to say the least... I wonder if measures like limiting access to electronic devices were even considered.

 

I'm also doubtful of Rockstar claimed losses.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67663128.amp

[Dedayog]

10 minutes ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

Summary

2023-12-04 the trailer for GTA6 was leaked ahead of time, with an embossed disclaimer to "BUY BTC"

 

One hacker instrumental to the hack was revealed to be an 18 years old autistic, part of the notorious Lapsus$ group. A number of teenage cospirators are held by the authorities

 

The hacker was deemed unfit to stand trial and was quickly sentenced to life in prison in an hospital ward, the jury was asked not to judge intent, but just to judge if the Hacker had committed the fact, to be released if the doctors ever deems the hacker to no longer be a risk

 

Rockstar claims a five million dollar loss due to the hack

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

 

Life in prison for corporate hacking seems disproportionate to say the least... I wonder if measures like limiting access to electronic devices were even considered.

 

I'm also doubtful of Rockstar claimed losses.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67663128.amp

There is more to it, as it's life in a hospital.  Mental issue maybe? 

 

Not sure, need more info.

[manikyath]

9 minutes ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

Life in prison for corporate hacking seems disproportionate to say the least... I wonder if measures like limiting access to electronic devices were even considered.

it's not life in prison though.. the person is deemed not mentally capable to understand the weight of their own actions, so they are put in a place that has two main objectives:

- protect this person from themselves

- ensure that if this person returns to society, they are fit to be in society

 

this also essentially means they are not deemed guilty (that doesnt mean "not guilty" either.. schrödinger's guilty?), so they in essence have a much better chance of making it back to society than if they were slapped with a 2 year prison sentence and a huge debt from having to settle for damages claimed.

 

as for the claimed losses from rockstar.. GTA is a major title for them, information leaking in ways or at times not deemed opportune by their marketing strategy could hugely impact how well the game does at launch. 

[emosun]

Oh no how will Rockstar survive without that 5 million dollars. They're just barely scraping by

[manikyath]

4 minutes ago, emosun said:

Oh no how will Rockstar survive without that 5 million dollars. They're just barely scraping by

such horrid reality, how will they swim in cash now? they cant possibly sell enough shark cards to make up for this horrid loss of a leaked trailer... this 0.06% of projected 2025 earnings on GTA6 is just too much to handle.

[Brooksie359]

@05032-Mendicant-Bias you have to realize that to be deemed mentally unfit for trial you need to have pretty serious mental health issues. It does say he can get out if he is deemed fit by mental health professionals. I know people who did some pretty harmful stuff due to mental illness and they needed to be hospitalized to ensure they didn't continue to harm people. Anyways I think you are looking at the judgment as a punishment rather than a protective measure and little to do with the crime committed but likely due to medical professionals assessments on his risk to himself and others. 

[Skiiwee29]

The method used is quite ingenious...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[da na]

There's no way on earth a kid who hacked Rockstar with a Fire TV could ever be "mentally unfit" for trial. Clearly an extremely intellegent person. 

Seems very severe...

[Brooksie359]

4 minutes ago, da na said:

There's no way on earth a kid who hacked Rockstar with a Fire TV could ever be "mentally unfit" for trial. Clearly an extremely intellegent person. 

Seems very severe...

I don't know. I knew a person who was basically a Sociopath in terms of not understanding empathy. Did some horrible stuff and didn't even know it was wrong. Admitted to everything and was confused as to why he was in trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't a similar situation or some other reason that has little to do with book smarts. 

[Skiiwee29]

6 minutes ago, da na said:

There's no way on earth a kid who hacked Rockstar with a Fire TV could ever be "mentally unfit" for trial. Clearly an extremely intellegent person. 

Seems very severe...

hard to believe, but it is believable to me. You can be incredibly great at one thing, but may not have the mental capacity or fortitude to be able to fully comprehend what's right from wrong. All it takes to determine if someone is mentally fit or unfit. How they were able to determine that now in 2 weeks is beyond me as both the defense and prosecution would have phycologists who will want to study and interview them to determine mental capacity. 2 weeks seems an awfully short time to determine that. 

[TetraSky]

5 million dollar loss.... For a trailer? What? That's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard all week. Especially after it broke every records on youtube when they did release it.

[dizmo]

Absolutely needs to be locked away. He's done several large hacks and is easily persuaded by his "peers"; it'll only escalate into things far more serious then a simple game breach. Very smart individual in some aspects, clearly, but unfortunately not really fit to roam on his own. 

 

I'd almost guarantee the British military or intelligence sevice employs him or his services in some regard. Which I think would be a far better outcome for all parties involved. 

 

36 minutes ago, da na said:

There's no way on earth a kid who hacked Rockstar with a Fire TV could ever be "mentally unfit" for trial. Clearly an extremely intellegent person. 

Seems very severe...

Seems perfectly fitting IMO. He's an extreme risk to the public. 

 

You can be a genius and still be unfit to stand trial. 

23 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

5 million dollar loss.... For a trailer? What? That's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard all week. Especially after it broke every records on youtube when they did release it.

They might have had other stuff planned to go with the trailer launch that was ruined, contracts with other companies, etc. There is most definitely financial consequences that go along with things like this. 

[Beskamir]

My expectation is he'll get offered a nice government job as soon as he's sufficiently forgotten about. It'd be crazy not to recruit someone of his skill level.

[aoxomoxoa]

5 hours ago, manikyath said:

it's not life in prison though.. the person is deemed not mentally capable to understand the weight of their own actions, so they are put in a place that has two main objectives:

- protect this person from themselves

- ensure that if this person returns to society, they are fit to be in society

 

this also essentially means they are not deemed guilty (that doesnt mean "not guilty" either.. schrödinger's guilty?), so they in essence have a much better chance of making it back to society than if they were slapped with a 2 year prison sentence and a huge debt from having to settle for damages claimed.

 

as for the claimed losses from rockstar.. GTA is a major title for them, information leaking in ways or at times not deemed opportune by their marketing strategy could hugely impact how well the game does at launch. 

protect them from what? leaking GTA 7 down the line? Life in a hospital ward is excessive, even if he was deemed mentally incapable. 

[Mark Kaine]

5 hours ago, manikyath said:

it's not life in prison though.. the person is deemed not mentally capable to understand the weight of their own actions, so they are put in a place that has two main objectives:

- protect this person from themselves

- ensure that if this person returns to society, they are fit to be in society

 

this also essentially means they are not deemed guilty (that doesnt mean "not guilty" either.. schrödinger's guilty?), so they in essence have a much better chance of making it back to society than if they were slapped with a 2 year prison sentence and a huge debt from having to settle for damages claimed.

 

as for the claimed losses from rockstar.. GTA is a major title for them, information leaking in ways or at times not deemed opportune by their marketing strategy could hugely impact how well the game does at launch. 

true, but "for life" sounds more like sensationalism than anything... if true it's still hilarious and probably a form of "punishment" anyway...

 

 

its not like he did a major crime 

 

(no toxic mega corp saying they lost "5 gazillion" isnt automatically a crime either) 

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, TetraSky said:

5 million dollar loss.... For a trailer? What? That's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard all week. Especially after it broke every records on youtube when they did release it.

exactly, i have a hard time believing this whole thing isn't an aprils fools joke... poor guy lol

[Spotty]

7 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

How they were able to determine that now in 2 weeks is beyond me as both the defense and prosecution would have phycologists who will want to study and interview them to determine mental capacity. 2 weeks seems an awfully short time to determine that. 

Not 2 weeks. The hack occurred in September 2022. In July 2023 he was deemed unfit to stand trial. 

 

8 hours ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

2023-12-04 the trailer for GTA6 was leaked ahead of time, with an embossed disclaimer to "BUY BTC"

Which is not related to this case or individual. This was not related to the GTA 6 trailer leaking a day early. This was related to a hack back in 2022 where he posted some very early development clips that were stolen from Rockstar while also attempting to extort Rockstar for money.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/sep/19/grand-theft-auto-6-leak-who-hacked-rockstar-and-what-was-stolen

Edited December 22, 2023 by Spotty

[wanderingfool2]

2 hours ago, Beskamir said:

My expectation is he'll get offered a nice government job as soon as he's sufficiently forgotten about. It'd be crazy not to recruit someone of his skill level.

Depends, unless the method of the attack is mentioned there doesn't really have to be much computer skill involved.

 

So many companies it's about knowing who the weak people are in the chain and social engineering them.  Sure there are some who will develop exploits and stuff, but I'd bet most system administrators/network administrators could perform what most media calls "hacking" if they so chose to do.  The majority of these big named hacks usually boils down to one or two mistakes by an employee; and a bit of technical skill but mostly knowledge of different systems.  (And where to get some of the software to exploit stuff)

 

As an example, as of today I know a specific bank that if I so chose I could get enough information to talk my way into the withdrawal of funds from a business account.  Now I would never do such a thing, but I know it's possible because I've observed flaws in their procedures (I actually brought it up at the teller once that they should be checking my ID, but since I had all the other relevant information they were just going to give me the $10,000 in cash that was requested).  So while I'm sure he still had skill, sometimes it's not always about having elite skills, but just knowing who to talk to and who you could convince to lets say run some malware.

 

 

 

 

To this topic, I think it's an unique punishment...as it allows them to keep him indefinitely as long as they deem him a risk (and in this case it seems as long as they consider that he doesn't have the morals to stop hacking).  This is opposed to sending him to prison where he would spend his time, be released and be free to continue hacking where he left off.

[manikyath]

2 hours ago, aoxomoxoa said:

protect them from what? leaking GTA 7 down the line? Life in a hospital ward is excessive, even if he was deemed mentally incapable. 

a decision like this is only taken for people who cannot function in society, i.e. this person may also not realise that hacking a payment network to get free pizza is theft.

 

they are a danger to themselves, more than they are a danger to rockstar's bottom line, so the decision was made that they should get the protection they need. do realise that rockstar essentially walks away empty handed from this.

 

it's also not "life in hospital" - they are being admitted until the people with the propper education to decide this determine that they are not a danger anymore. it's "of undetermined length" so to say.

[williamcll]

It's like people forgot about all the child hackers in the 90s-2000s

[Vode]

8 hours ago, da na said:

There's no way on earth a kid who hacked Rockstar with a Fire TV could ever be "mentally unfit" for trial. Clearly an extremely intellegent person. 

Seems very severe...

Well intelligence and exhibiting desired socially accepted behavioural patterns aren‘t the same thing.

Agree it‘s severe considering only 5M dollars in claimed damage with no proof whatsoever. 

 

[leadeater]

10 hours ago, manikyath said:

such horrid reality, how will they swim in cash now? they cant possibly sell enough shark cards to make up for this horrid loss of a leaked trailer... this 0.06% of projected 2025 earnings on GTA6 is just too much to handle.

Won't somebody please think of the executives! Too many executive lives are cut short or corrupted by unchecked and unfettered online actions, we must protect them for their own sake.

 

These executives could become malnourished from the lack of millions of dollars and may have to turn to a life of corporate fraud and larceny just to survive. 

[wanderingfool2]

6 hours ago, manikyath said:

it's also not "life in hospital" - they are being admitted until the people with the propper education to decide this determine that they are not a danger anymore. it's "of undetermined length" so to say.

Yes and no.  If someone is say somewhat of a sociopath, lacking feeling for people sometimes the underlying cause sometimes can't be fixed.  In cases like that the court can sentence them to a punishment like this because it has an indefinite sentence...so effectively they know it's most likely to be a life sentence.  (i.e. They aren't hamstrung by the sentencing limits for jail)

 

Not saying the guy is a sociopath, but similar things apply.  As a grown adult there are many personality traits that almost are already locked in...and the propensity to not care about others I feel is one that is fluid but still a large part of you.

 

With that said, if he's a hacker who uses manipulation to get in which I suspect he might be, then I'm curious to whether or not he could convince psychiatrists into thinking he's "better" and that he "feels" for his victims.

 

Although, speaking of sociopaths' they make good executives for companies with the right education.

[aoxomoxoa]

8 hours ago, manikyath said:

a decision like this is only taken for people who cannot function in society, i.e. this person may also not realise that hacking a payment network to get free pizza is theft.

 

they are a danger to themselves, more than they are a danger to rockstar's bottom line, so the decision was made that they should get the protection they need. do realise that rockstar essentially walks away empty handed from this.

 

it's also not "life in hospital" - they are being admitted until the people with the propper education to decide this determine that they are not a danger anymore. it's "of undetermined length" so to say.

Clickbait title then, I suppose it is proof that media outlets take an incident and try to polarize the public as much as possible by suggesting "life in hospital."

[manikyath]

2 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Yes and no.  If someone is say somewhat of a sociopath, lacking feeling for people sometimes the underlying cause sometimes can't be fixed.  In cases like that the court can sentence them to a punishment like this because it has an indefinite sentence...so effectively they know it's most likely to be a life sentence.  (i.e. They aren't hamstrung by the sentencing limits for jail)

yes, but the 'bar' to get released is a matter of if they are 'fit to be a part of society'. in a sense such an institute is better for them than being in jail, and then just get 'dropped' back into the real world.