GTA 6 trailer leak: Teen hacker sentenced to life in secure hospital

An 18-year-old hacker, who leaked the trailer of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 video game earlier this month, has been given an indefinite hospital order, the BBC reported.

Arion Kurtaj, an autistic Oxford native, was a key member of the international gang Lapsus$, responsible for attacks on tech giants including Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games that cost them nearly $10 million.

Kurtaj, known for his cyber-crime skills, is deemed a high-risk public figure and will be kept in a secure hospital for life unless doctors determine his safety, according to a judge.

The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent in custody, causing injuries and property damage. Due to his acute autism, doctors deemed him unfit for trial, so the jury was asked to determine whether he committed the alleged acts without criminal intent.

However, 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 informed that he continued to hack and executed his most notorious attack while under police protection at a Travelodge hotel and on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT/EE.

Kurtaj used an Amazon Firestick, his hotel TV, and a cell phone to get past Rockstar, the firm that created Grand Theft Auto, despite having his laptop confiscated.

Kurtaj stole 90 unreleased clips of much-anticipated GTA 6 and by breaking into the company's internal Slack messaging system, he threatened to release the source code if Rockstar didn't contact him within 24 hours.

He later posted the clips and source code on a forum under TeaPotUberHacker. He was rearrested and detained until his trial.

Earlier this month, the trailer for GTA 6 was released clocking up 128 million views on YouTube in just four days.

Kurtaj's defence team argued that the success of the game's trailer did not indicate serious harm to the developer and asked that this be factored into the sentencing.

However, Judge Lees emphasised that there were real victims and harm caused by his multiple hacks on individuals and companies using Lapsus$.

Rockstar Games alone told the court that the hack cost it $5 million to recover from plus thousands of hours of staff time.