GTA 6 leaker Arion Kurtaj: Everything found by the UK court about the 18-year old hacker

Arion Kurtaj, one of the hackers associated with the notorious GTA 6 leaks, has been on trial for months. The judiciary has found that he committed several objectionable acts in the cyber world. His accomplice was another 17-year-old hacker whose details have been concealed because of their minor status.

A latest report by BBC News detailed Kurtaj's cyber crime history. GTA fans initially thought that the hacker was detained after the Rockstar Games incident, but the UK court has disclosed that Arion carried out the act while under police observation.

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Some disturbing facts about Arion Kurtaj and his involvement in the GTA 6 leaks

18-year-old Arion Kurtaj, a resident of Oxford, England, is reportedly associated with an international hacker group called Lapsus$. He was allegedly one of the key members of the team involved in hacking several international corporations, including Rockstar Games.

The Southwark Crown Court in London revealed that the GTA 6 leaker and his team were on a hacking streak before they infiltrated Rockstar Games’ servers. According to the BBC report, titled “Lapsus$: Court finds teenagers carried out hacking spree," the gang conducted their first cyber attack in August 2021.

The GTA 6 leaker asking for ransom from BT and EE. (Image via City of London Police)

Arion Kurtaj and his unnamed associate accessed restricted servers owned by BT and EE, a UK-based telecom company, stole their user data, and demanded $4 million in ransom. Both were arrested in January 2022 and then released under investigation.

Immediately after their release, they hacked into NVIDIA servers in February 2022 and blackmailed the company for ransom. As per the UK court, the alleged Grand Theft Auto 6 hacker tricked and harassed the employees of NVIDIA Corporation online to gain access to the company's servers. Consequently, the duo was then arrested again in March 2022.

Unfortunately, Kurtaj was "doxxed" around this time, so the police had to keep him in a Travelodge hotel in Bicester, England. According to the BBC report, the law enforcement team barred him from using the internet.

However, the notorious hacker somehow gathered an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a smartphone, a keyboard, and a mouse. Using these tools, he hacked into the servers of Rockstar Games and then leaked 90 unfinished GTA 6 gameplay clips. He also infiltrated the official Slack channel of the gaming studio to ask for ransom and threaten to leak the game code online.

After the incident went viral, a City of London Police team apprehended Arion with the Amazon Fire TV Stick in his hotel room and immediately took him into custody.

The UK court processed 12 charges against Arion and his partner. The investigation revealed that both defendants were autistic, and they were hence declared unfit for trial. The Southwark Crown Court asked the jury members to determine whether Arion was involved in the incident, and the final verdict is still awaited.

While Rockstar Games couldn’t prevent the leak, the studio can be seen taking several security measures now, including the most recent case of patching the Speedo Custom God Mode glitch after the GTA Online weekly update.