Teen GTA 6 Hacker Blackmails Rockstar Over Sequel’s Source Code
Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most eagerly awaited games, has, unsurprisingly, attracted the attention of hackers. A recent Reuters report tells of a hacker who infiltrated Rockstar’s company Slack and threatened to expose the source code for GTA VI.
The alleged culprit, according to Reuters, is Arion Kurtaj, a teenage member of the Lapsus$ hacking group. He is facing a total of 12 charges, including three for blackmail, two for fraud, and six under the U.K.’s Computer Misuse Act.
Aside from Rockstar, Kurtaj is also alleged to have targeted companies such as Revolut, Uber, and Nvidia. He’s accused of extorting British broadband provider BT Group for a $4 million ransom. Currently, Kurtaj has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
In 2022, Rockstar Games experienced a “network intrusion,” leading to the leak of unfinished gameplay and assets across social media platforms. Although Rockstar acted swiftly to eliminate the leaked content, it couldn’t fully halt its dissemination. It even popped up in Goat Simulator 3 before being promptly removed.
Leaks are taken very seriously and are both disappointing and frustrating for our team, remarked Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick after the incident. While financially unaffected, he admitted the emotional toll these events take on their teams.
Uber, who also fell prey to these breaches, released a blog post stating that it was collaborating with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to probe into its data breaches, suspecting the same hacker as the one behind the Rockstar leaks, though Kurtaj wasn’t specifically named.
The release date for GTA 6 is still unknown, potentially being as soon as next year. Meanwhile, a jury will attempt to establish if Kurtaj is indeed behind the alleged hacking incidents, although they will not deliver a verdict of guilt or innocence.
