- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
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.
You must log in or # to comment.
Life for this seems absolutely insane.
I don’t think the kid will actually serve it out in prison though. The primary issue here seems to be that the kid is actively saying they will commit more crimes. No matter the crime, you can’t really give a light sentence to someone telling you, in a court of law, that they will do it again.
The ideal would be that they rehabilitate him until he’s able to be safely released with no fear of repeat offense, or at the very least, until the kid is smart enough to lie.
Let’s also remember he hacked Rockstar while out on bail for hacking other companies. He was already given a chance, and he committed another fucking crime.
No matter the crime, you can’t really give a light sentence to someone telling you, in a court of law, that they will do it again.
Dude’s unfit to stand trial.
Dude’s unfit to be loose in society. Doesn’t leave a lot of options.
I dunno, he’s seem to do pretty good things thus far.
But that’s just my independent viewpoint.
Article says he’s been breaking stuff and hurting people while in custody. This isn’t just about GTA.
Good call. Life in a psyche ward.
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
Rape doesn’t get you life. Child molestation doesn’t get you life (hell in the UK it’s tradition among the government)
Hacking Rockstar and being violent in custody? Yeah. Sure. Life sentence.
Fucking bootlicker.
It’s a mental health “life”, not a prison life.
It’s only life if doctors do not approve of their release due to potential danger. No sentence has been given to them yet.
They weren’t even tried yet this is all because of how they reacted while being detained
In my state, you damn sure can get a life sentence for child molestation and rape
Well, sure, but does that mean he should get a life sentence?
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.”
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.
Indeed, but if we wait for everything to be perfect nothing will ever get done. Reforms of the system can continue alongside treatment.
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.
It’s not the cybercrime that he’s in the mental hospital over. He’s been physically violent as well.
And just how does one get cured of autism?
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.
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.
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?
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?
Being obtuse in no way advances your argument.
He’s not being obtuse when you’re the one making outlandish claims
Your wording is wrong. It’s a medical life sentence. It would be cleared immediately on doctor approval.
Or the people handling him don’t understand autism?
If he’s unfit for trial doesn’t he wait until he can? That is beyond unjust on every which side unless he is that level of fucked up. What is life like in an NCR-type deal hospital for life?
Is it like a decent group home or where is he being sent to exactly?
It sounds like he is that level of fucked up. Getting violent and breaking shit and literally saying “I’ll fuckin do it again”.
You might try reading the article you posted then, because it says very plainly:
He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.
A danger of commiting cyber crimes. You forgot that part. This could be solved with a probation officer and a restriction on technology use. Instead, he’s in a mental hospital. This is ridiculous and a way to weaponize his disability as a warning to others.
Yes… It’s the same sentence criminally insane murderers get.
People pleading insanity and thinking ‘they get away with it’, has always made me laugh. You might get probation in 20 years but in an asylum, you have no sentence it’s just a matter of if the doctors ever agree to release you.
And people are still going to play the game.
Worse, people will buy that game.
I mean… what is the alternative? He said he’s going to continue hacking once he’s free, so do you think 5 or 10 years in prison will do anything to deter him? It doesn’t sound like it at all.
edit: plenty of downvotes, but nobody is suggesting what should be done instead?
Not sure why this is down voted.
Besides being aggressive and destructive, he declared he will not stop doing crime.
This is not some “hero vs corporations” feel-good story as people seem to think here.
I dunno why people think social engineering has no victims and is harmless. It’s just not the case.
Cybercrime destroys lives. It’s anti-commerce and it can absolutely ruin a small business. Who the victim was does not matter. He openly intends to do it again if ever released so section his ass.
“ruin a small business”.
This is Rockstar. They make billions. All the hype is just free press for them, which is pro-commerce for them and the press.
Yeah, it destroys lives when it’s taken out of proportion for a stupid leak vs. a life sentence. You ruin lives with your nonsense because a billion dollar company doesn’t have decent cyber-security? GTA is completely full of script kiddies in every session. Maybe rockstar needs to get their act together instead of throwing people in jail for doing exactly what is required in game. Where you’re a criminal that hacks tech companies to advance in the plot. In game, it kills people. In real life, nobody was hurt at all.
Rockstar isn’t the only company he hacked and hacking isn’t his only crime. Read the fucking article. The rest of your logic is just a mess. Doesn’t matter how much security Rockstar has. You can’t walk into a mansion and steal something just because the front door is unlocked. And your last point is just so fucking stupid. It’s ok to hack Rockstar because they have hacking in their games? Jesus. I don’t like or even play Rockstar games but you can’t just commit crimes against them and think it’s ok because they have a lot of money.
Of all the arguments people made about the sentencing, this one is the stupidest
Anti-commerce? oh, no! Won’t anyone think of the multi billion dollar corporation?
The use of “sentenced to life” here is one of the most blatant click/ragebait headlines I’ve seen in a while. And looking at the comments, people are eating it up.
He has not been sentenced to life. He’s in a hospital until deemed fit to release, because he’s destroying property, injuring people, and declaring a desire to return to crime.
Yeah, it’s funny when it’s Rockstar, less so when it’s your social media or bank. If he can’t bring himself to at least commit to saying he won’t do something illegal just to get through court, then his lack of self control speaks to someone who’s going to do some shit and wind up arrested again.
If the staff can get him to calm down enough to stand trial, he’s out.
Also, remember he was already put on bail once:
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.
because he’s destroying property,
Hold on while I dig out the world’s smallest violin for the property of billionaire parasites.
For real, right? What a wank of a take 😵💫
Hold on… I have an even smaller violin - you know, for all the people who love licking the boots of billionaire parasites.
All that over-priced shoe polish must be really hard on your tongue.
Just to clarify, you know I’m agreeing with you right?
Shoot.
Sorry.
All good. I guess “for real, right?” has an intonation everyone in the NYC area gets, but maybe others don’t know. I’ll be more careful.
Also, I’m stealing “overpriced shoe polish is bad for your tongue”. 😂
You can put away your second, very small violin now sir
Don’t feel too bad. I didn’t pick up on it either
Not sure what “property” you are thinking of here?
Stop trying to introduce logic and reason into a pitchfork led witch hunt.
Thank you for this, my jaw literally dropped when I read the title
The dude hacked Rockstar while in police custody for hacking other companies. They were transporting him and stopped for the night. They locked him inside a hotel room after clearing out anything that he could potentially use to hack. But they missed an Amazon Firestick in the back of the TV. Using that and his room phone, he hacked Rockstar, then when he was caught he told police he’ll do it again as soon as he’s released.
Yeah, the dude is compulsive. It’s an obsession for him.
They won’t be able to stop him. He literally needs that cube they put magneto in.
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
Lol. If this was in the plot of a movie, I would say that this is implausible.
Jesus. Don’t lock this guy up, give him a computer and point him at Russia.
“Russia wanted us to stop you from playing video games. Go teach them a lesson”
To be fair, that mobile phone is basically just a computer. I could my dayjob from a mobile phone too if I plugged it into dock with mouse, keyboard and a screen. Just a bit inconvenient
I use my phone that way at work but i use parsec to access my vm this way i dont have to carry a laptop
The part I don’t get that no-one has mentioned is that Rockstar stated in court that it cost them $5million to recover from the attack. What does that even mean? They spent $5mil on lawyers to recover the video footage? They spent that on upgrading security (which arguably should have been in place already if they could be hacked with a fire stick and a landline). Or have they been selling $5mil less of Shark Cards than they were expecting?
I think some of these evil corporations just throw up a number and expect people to believe they spent that kind of money.
I don’t even buy games at release anymore. I wait for a sale or GOTY edition. I wish people would stop pre-ordering and wait for YouTube reviews and Twitch streams.
I didn’t pre-order GTA V and watched it on Twitch. After about 2 weeks, went and bought it on PS3 with money I won from a football pool.
I’ve been around for this kind of thing. Similar to grants. When the money is flowing, management just goes around and earmarks various things on the budget sheets and asks the data folks for reports to back it up. Some of it could be true. Most of it is a stretch.
First off: it’s a hospital until he’s fit to stand trial. Same for the crazy serial killers who can’t comprehend that what they do is wrong.
Second: the dude is autistic and violent without his connection to the internet. He need professional help.
Third: respect where it is due, he was already banned from having a computer, hacked rockstar with a phone and a fire tv stick
The NSA is about to buy him his freedom…
violent
he was violent while in custody. The article doesn’t say anything about any other violence. I think its fair that he was violent towards the people who were violating his rights
Jesus, man. He hacked Rockstar with a fire stick and a phone, lol. Put this kid to work hacking enemy governments. Why waste that talent?
According to the article he was also found to be extremely violent while in custody, with several reports and issues. A lot of that is likely related to his Autism and should be noted. I also absolutely expect the reports are at least partially exaggerated in their wording.
That said: I do agree. Get the kid some therapy and coping skills and give him a nicely colored hat to choose from.
Sounds like they have Rick Sanchez is custody over there
Court mandated therapy would do wonders
If they are going to go that way, no one will ever know.
How could this 18 year old have hacked your government website while locked up in a hospital? Are you admitting your cyber security is that bad?
conversation ends
He’s likely not decrypting some impressive backend code but acquired a list of employee login credentials from some Rockstar IT employee off the dark web. Combine that list with an autist memory and you have a very dangerous person that needs to be separated from the rest of us for a very, very long time.
What a garbage conclusion lol. I hope you don’t work on anything important.
Wtf, life in prison because you made a corporation look bad?
Life in hospital because he publicly vowed to keep doing it while his trial was going on. That’s not a smart thing, that’s definitely not a sane thing. You apologize and move on to get out, you double down if you really like the food, white walls, and basic healthcare, or, you know, if you can’t stop yourself from saying so.
No, he did not get “life”.
He’s staying in a mental institute until released.
Did you even read the article? He sort of had it coming
Life? That’s bonkers. For leaking GTA crap? Egad.
Guess a billion dollar company bought the legal system…
Rockstar: ‘Lock him up and throw away the key. Also, play our game and go shoot some civilians, cops, and feds in a hacker terrorist bank heist online with friends!’
The use of “for life” here is extremely misleading and rage baiting. People around here shit on the media all the time, but fall for this clickbait hook line and sinker.
He’s not been imprisoned “for life”. He’s been put in a hospital until deemed fit for release or to stand trial. Because he’s literally destroying shit and hurting people/himself.
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.”
And yeah, we all like cybercrime around here when the kid does it to Rockstar, but he can just as easily do more damaging things to regular people, and that’s a serious concern. If he can’t control himself long enough to get through a trial, then there’s no reason to assume he won’t do more shit.
Read the article.
Hacking spree one Jurors heard that the unnamed teenager started hacking with Kurtaj in July 2021 having met online. Kurtaj aided by Lapsus$ associates, hacked the servers and data files of telecoms company BT and EE, the mobile operator, before demanding a $4m (£3.1m) ransom on 1 August 2021.
Hacking spree two That did not deter the duo who continued hacking with Lapsus$ and successfully breached Nvidia, a Silicon Valley tech giant that makes chips for artificial intelligence chatbots, in February 2022. They stole and leaked sensitive and valuable data and demanded a ransom payment to stop them releasing more.
Hacking spree three Prosecutors say he was “caught red handed” when City of London Police searched his hotel room. In a “flagrant disregard for his bail conditions”, jurors were told that police found an Amazon Fire Stick in his hotel TV allowing him to connect to cloud computing services with a newly purchased smart phone, keyboard and mouse.
That’s a new description of Nvidia
That’s what Jensen calls it
“[Jensen] sent out an email on Friday evening saying everything is going to deep learning, and that we were no longer a graphics company. By Monday morning, we were an AI company. Literally, it was that fast.”
Is this real life or did I not wake up?
Life? That’s bonkers. For leaking GTA crap? Egad.
Not what happened.
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.
I say let him out, unconditionally. When you reach this mix of genius and shamelessness, you breach into the territory of art. Rockstar having to pay $5.000.000 in “damages” is a sacrifice I’m willing to have them make.
When you have a kid like this you fucking recruit them to work for the government and let him hack their enemies to his hearts content.
And you tell the public they’re in prison for life.
Yeah, like what the fuck? He got Rockstar with a goddamn phone and a Firestick? Dude must be a genius.
Sounds like the origin story of a comic book character.
Not sure what’s hard about that.
If you can convince someone inside a company to give you the credentials, a phone and Firestick is more than enough.
People seem to assume he did some movie magic hack. People are generally the weakest factor for companies, I assume that’s what he “attacked”
“I’ll give you a phone and a fire stick for your user id and password”
Imagine what the MI6 or CIA could make out of him. He hacked Rockstar using a firestick, imagine what he could do when given the right tools. This is a terrible waste of skill.
Yeah but it makes mega corporations look like the complete idiots that they actually are…the rich can’t have their stupidity on clear display like that so they need to punish whoever.
This isn’t about their shitty game anymore, they want to attempt to stop other smart individuals from again showing the world that this giant companies shouldn’t exist and how utterly pathetic they are when it comes to security
deleted by creator
We disagree on where his skills would have been wasted.
He was going in the right direction. I’d have loved to see what he could have inflicted on capital markets and banking systems.
He’s a violent criminal with no regard for privacy, and you want him working for the government?
He has been violent repeatedly, and continues to express desire to commit cyber crimes.
What would your solution be because right now it’s putting him in a hospital to get help?
So this was the kid that committed the cybercrime using a fire stick while out on bail due to other cybercrime. And in this process he shows no remorse to stop doing cyber crime. And the doctors of this lifetime prison hospital get discretion on when to release him if he shows remorse? Administrative medical prison sentencing is usually fucked up and unfair, but it sounds like this kid has a path forward to eventually get released.
Sounds like he is the perfect CEO.
What the FUCK?!
this is fucking alarming.
“This kid is super smart and managed to get somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. The people protecting that place have billions of dollars, so this kid must suffer. What he didn’t was kind of illegal but no one got hurt except the billionaires who want him to suffer. Well, they didn’t measurably get hurt, they just are upset about it. What do you say? Life in the Looney bin?”
That’s a very distorted description of what’s actually happening. The person (he’s 18 so no longer really a “kid”) had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage, and continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. Furthermore, the “life” sentence is only until the doctors think he’s no longer a danger. It sounds like this guy is a real piece of work and the sentence is rooted in the goals of rehabilitation and protecting the public rather than some kind of retribution.
I have no opinion on the person in question but depending on how severe their autism is it changes the narrative of physical outbursts a bit.
The cause of the outbursts is understandable, and I empathize. But the outbursts are still outbursts, and we can’t pretend they aren’t a problem that has to be dealt with because we don’t want to mistreat someone with autism. You can ask the world to tolerate your personal mental health issues only so far, and the point where you’re breaking shit and causing “injuries” is a line.
For sure. I agree with you. I meant only to say that it might not be so black and white on this one.
Seriously. Fuck this kid. Section him and keep away from us. Cybercriminals are always getting treated with kid gloves.
The title is editorialized. He was put in a hospital because he attacked people during the arrest and is considered dangerous physically. He hasn’t even had a trial for the hacker stuff.
Is he gonna be able to play the game in the hospital?
The BBC article has more details why judge rule to isolate this young man https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67663128
The hackers sent out threatening text messages to 26,000 EE customers
… Another Lapsus$ member, who is 17 and cannot be named because of his age, was found guilty in the same trial, which lasted six weeks at Southwark Crown Court.
He worked with Kurtaj and other members of Lapsus$ to hack tech giant Nvidia and phone company BT/EE and steal data before demanding a four million dollar ransom, which was not paid.
They also stole directly from individuals through their cryptocurrency wallets.
… As well as hacking offences the boy was sentenced for what the judge described as “unpleasant and frightening pattern of stalking and harassment” of two young women.
… The gang - thought to mostly be teenagers - used con-man like tricks as well as computer hacking to gain access to multinational corporations such as Microsoft, the technology giant and digital banking group Revolut.
… It is not clear how much money Lapsus$ has made from its cyber-crimes. No companies publicly admitted paying the hackers and the hackers did not provide the passwords to seized cryptocurrency wallets.
I had PTSD after being held in a psychiatric ward for a few days. Granted this was in the US (in a major Texas city), but if the UK’s mental health is anything like the US, that kid’s never coming out.
I have ptsd from my experiences with nhs mental health services. This kid is going to be destroyed. My heart goes out to them, this is so incresibly unjust.
It’s been a while and my PTSD was milder so it’s pretty much gone at this point, but it really sucks how bad emergency mental health services are. It meant I learned the wrong lesson from being hospitalized: never tell someone if you’re suicidal because they might call 911 instead of helping you find a better place to stay. I’ve heard there are a lot of good mental health hospitals in the US, but they tend to be (even more) expensive and are almost never the emergency care facilities.
Not sure if the UK has a similar situation, where the good places aren’t covered or are on extremely long wait lists, and the shitty, abusive places are the places people usually get sent, but I feel bad for him. He should be given a job and a therapist, not a psych ward where the nurses are jaded and probably not paid enough to give a shit while the doctors are either burned out or trying to make the best of a shitty situation.
