An 18-year-old hacker who leaked clips of a forthcoming Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
Arion Kurtaj from Oxford, who is autistic, was a key member of international gang Lapsus$.
The gang's attacks on tech giants including Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games cost the firms nearly $10m.
The judge said Kurtaj's skills and desire to commit cyber-crime meant he remained a high risk to the public.
He will remain at a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem him no longer a danger.
The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage.
Doctors deemed Kurtaj unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism so the jury was asked to determine whether or not he committed the alleged acts - not if he did so with criminal intent.
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.
Hacking via a firestick and phone would be an immersion in a movie and here I'm finding out that's how one of the biggest game leaks in the last few years happened? What a wild story
Hacking via a firestick and phone would be an immersion in a movie and here I'm finding out that's how one of the biggest game leaks in the last few years happened? What a wild story
Like, from the title it sounds ludicrous but in the article when it mentions he was on bail from commiting other cyber crimes (hacking with threats and extortion thrown in for good measure) and...
Like, from the title it sounds ludicrous but in the article when it mentions he was on bail from commiting other cyber crimes (hacking with threats and extortion thrown in for good measure) and also because violent in custody it makes sense.
Like, clearly this guy is talented but I think he does need help. I'll admit that I don't care that he cost Rockstar and Uber money but hopefully he'll be supported and assisted in finding a way to use those talents for the greater good.
Also: It's likely that he lacks self-control (given that he chose to commit a crime while under police supervision — I mean, at least wait??) and empathy. Those combined with his skills do make...
Also:
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.
It's likely that he lacks self-control (given that he chose to commit a crime while under police supervision — I mean, at least wait??) and empathy. Those combined with his skills do make him dangerous. What if he turns from hacking game companies to hacking hospitals or individuals?
While that idea sounds good to me at first, I am also realizing that giving him even better tools is probably a very bad idea. In addition to whatever international incident he'd cause inside...
While that idea sounds good to me at first, I am also realizing that giving him even better tools is probably a very bad idea. In addition to whatever international incident he'd cause inside Chinese networks.
The Amazon Firestick part of this debacle is a bit less impressive when you realize it’s almost certainly just used as a screen for DeX to work on, and their primary method of access was social...
The Amazon Firestick part of this debacle is a bit less impressive when you realize it’s almost certainly just used as a screen for DeX to work on, and their primary method of access was social engineering, not any technical exploits.
My first thought upon reading the BBC article was "Damn, if the Brits aren't going to put him to work, I'm sure there's some other states out there who'd be interested," so it was really funny to...
My first thought upon reading the BBC article was "Damn, if the Brits aren't going to put him to work, I'm sure there's some other states out there who'd be interested," so it was really funny to see Swift address that on the first tweet of their thread.
I've met patients in secure units (low and medium) who used to be prisoners but who were diverted from prison because they became unwell and every one of them said they would prefer to be in...
I've met patients in secure units (low and medium) who used to be prisoners but who were diverted from prison because they became unwell and every one of them said they would prefer to be in prison because you serve a sentence and then you're out.
I am uncomfortable with him being in a secure unit instead of a prison. He committed a crime, he knew what he was doing, he deserves a sentence. What they're doing now is worse - he'll have to persuade them that he doesn't pose a risk of harm to others before he's released. In my opinion (and I don't have anything but experience to support this) he is easily provoked, and staff will exploit that to cause him to react and then restrain him, and that will be seen as another episode of violence - he's not getting out of there for years.
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.
Lol, legend.
In England secure units have different forms:
For adults there are low, medium, and high security units for men and for women. There are also secure units for children.
High Secure services provide care and treatment to those adults who
present a grave and immediate risk to the public and who should not
be able to escape from hospital
• Medium secure services provide care and treatment to those adults
who present a serious risk of harm to others and whose escape from
hospital should be prevented
• Low secure services provide care and treatment who present a
significant risk of harm to others and whose escape from hospital
should be impeded
Hacking via a firestick and phone would be an immersion in a movie and here I'm finding out that's how one of the biggest game leaks in the last few years happened? What a wild story
Like, from the title it sounds ludicrous but in the article when it mentions he was on bail from commiting other cyber crimes (hacking with threats and extortion thrown in for good measure) and also because violent in custody it makes sense.
Like, clearly this guy is talented but I think he does need help. I'll admit that I don't care that he cost Rockstar and Uber money but hopefully he'll be supported and assisted in finding a way to use those talents for the greater good.
Also:
It's likely that he lacks self-control (given that he chose to commit a crime while under police supervision — I mean, at least wait??) and empathy. Those combined with his skills do make him dangerous. What if he turns from hacking game companies to hacking hospitals or individuals?
More likely for the military industrial complex...
While that idea sounds good to me at first, I am also realizing that giving him even better tools is probably a very bad idea. In addition to whatever international incident he'd cause inside Chinese networks.
The Amazon Firestick part of this debacle is a bit less impressive when you realize it’s almost certainly just used as a screen for DeX to work on, and their primary method of access was social engineering, not any technical exploits.
Here’s SwiftOnSecurity’s take on it
My first thought upon reading the BBC article was "Damn, if the Brits aren't going to put him to work, I'm sure there's some other states out there who'd be interested," so it was really funny to see Swift address that on the first tweet of their thread.
I've met patients in secure units (low and medium) who used to be prisoners but who were diverted from prison because they became unwell and every one of them said they would prefer to be in prison because you serve a sentence and then you're out.
I am uncomfortable with him being in a secure unit instead of a prison. He committed a crime, he knew what he was doing, he deserves a sentence. What they're doing now is worse - he'll have to persuade them that he doesn't pose a risk of harm to others before he's released. In my opinion (and I don't have anything but experience to support this) he is easily provoked, and staff will exploit that to cause him to react and then restrain him, and that will be seen as another episode of violence - he's not getting out of there for years.
Lol, legend.
In England secure units have different forms:
For adults there are low, medium, and high security units for men and for women. There are also secure units for children.
Most commissioning is done locally by Integrated Care Boards, but secure units are commissioned nationally by NHS England. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/2996/schedule/4/made
Service Specifications, and other info, are here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-c/adult-secure-services/
The NHS Data Dictionary is usually good, but not super helpful here: https://www.datadictionary.nhs.uk/attributes/ward_security_level.html
The differences between the levels are (page 2): https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Adult-Low-Secure-Service-Specification-SCFT-WSBS-addendum-version.pdf