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Alleged GTA 6 Hacker Appears In Court, Being Held In Youth Detention Center

The suspect is probably not getting released right away with their weapons removed.

44 Comments

London police have arrested a 17-year-old suspected of perpetrating the recent hack on Rockstar Games, which resulted in the unprecedented leaking of in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 footage. As reported by Eurogamer, the suspect entered a not-guilty plea related to computer misuse, but did plead guilty to violating bail conditions.

The arrest, made on September 22, was announced by the City of London Police Twitter account the following day. In its initial post, the police department did not specify if the hacker, described as a "17-year-old in Oxfordshire," was suspected of hacking Rockstar Games. However, it did say it was "part of an investigation" made in collaboration with the UK's National Cyber Crime Unit.

Eurogamer later reported that the suspect was believed to have been behind the Rockstar attack as part of a larger group called Lapsus$, and it was not the first time they had allegedly been on the wrong side of the law. It's unclear what penalties the suspect could face, or what action Take-Two may take against them.

Grand Theft Auto 6, or whatever it sends up being called, has not been officially announced, though Rockstar did say it's working on the next Grand Theft Auto game. The leak revealed very early-in-development footage, seemingly confirming a female playable character and a Vice City setting. Rockstar has not addressed these details directly, only saying that development will continue as planned.

For more on this in-development story, check out the fan-made reconstructed map, info on apparent alligators and sex robots, and how Take-Two's stock price fell in the aftermath of the leak.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Jimminyfixit

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Edited By Jimminyfixit

It’s a bit ironic Rockstar were victims of a crime. Roll on GTA6 though and annoyingly this only slows it down.

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phili878

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A lovely start towards unemployment for the rest of his life.

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xxmavr1kxx

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Is crazy to think this Kid was 8 when GTA 5 released. He has been waiting more than half of his life for the sequel to come out.

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Jimminyfixit

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Edited By Jimminyfixit

@xxmavr1kxx: Technically he shouldn’t have played it yet lol

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Mesome713

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He should say in court that playing GTA made him do it.

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Slannmage

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Our courts do not like to punish criminals these days, so he'll get a light sentence.

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shadow6323

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@Slannmage: and a job

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Primemooseart

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Now that's what I call a 5 star wanted level ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🚔

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clockworkengine

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Corporate Espionage. Not a happy charge to catch depending upon which country is prosecuting.

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brxricano

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@clockworkengine: this isnt corporate espionage. The law defines it closer to, but stops short of saying, computer terrorism. And no it makes no sense since they dont get treated like terrorists. Just naughty computer users 🙄

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phili878

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@clockworkengine: lol this isn't corporate espionage.

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noodles227

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Just remember everyone. If this kid had hacked your home network, stole IDs, bank info, and other personal info you'd be SOL, and homeless on the street. But because R* has the cash and is well known, the cops jump right on the case. And get him locked up within days.

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Feral411

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@noodles227: my guess is a lot of that work was done by rockstars own corporate security and handed over to the police. Which is why it was done relatively quickly because the Work wasn’t being funded by the public sector

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RicklePick

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@noodles227: yeaaaaaah, no. The person hacking your accounts likely knows how to hide their tracks and wants more than anything else to remain anonymous so they keep their opsec tight. That’s why the police can’t find them. This is Lapsus. They literally post this stuff on social media and in forums while using their real names or other identifying info. They’re amateur kids that receive little to no punishment for these crimes in the UK because of their leniency.

There’s a podcast called “Click Here” that has several episodes about Lapsus if you’re looking to learn more. And if you want to learn more about hacking (and how to prevent yourself from getting hacked) you should check out the podcast Darknet Diaries. That was one of my favorite pods to binge, well worth your time.

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gaeandilth

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Should fire the people in charge of security if some 17 year old kid can beat them.

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RicklePick

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@gaeandilth: they got phished, plain and simple. I promise you, someone you know that you think is smart has accidentally given out their credentials before. Heck you may have even done it yourself! It’s not about stupidity, and IT can’t stop humans from making errors. Phishing just happens, even to the best of us.

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jenovaschilld

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Edited By jenovaschilld

@ricklepick: i agree with you there. I mean this kid is not a mastermind he is part of a huge group -that day in and day out do nothing but troll massive amounts of accounts. They got that one guy by fishing his social account, which for some insane reason had access to their slack account, with all of that R* videos and game stuff they were working on. Breakdowns in proper security everywhere.

For sure they will be firing that guy, and probably a few more...... a shame though, I mean a simple mistake is gonna cost people a ton of money, time, and jobs.

But also they need to crack down on these larger hacking groups that takes these kids and scam as many victims as possible, mostly identity hacks.

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RicklePick

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@jenovaschilld: yeah but UK is pretty lenient with minors and cybercrime. They do have some awesome programs though to help young cyber criminals train and learn with mentors in the industry to go on and work in cybersecurity, so hopefully in a decade or two we’ll see some awesome stories about people who are changing the world for good from their start in cyber crime. I wish the US would embrace this more and try to turn some of these cyber criminals into bug hunters and cyber security professionals.

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jenovaschilld

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@ricklepick: The USA has such hurdles to higher education as compared to many other industrialized nations. Going from high school to strong colleges is more about financial based decisions rather then scholastic, or how talented one is. For every 1 person that might get a grant, you have thousands get by just on financial abilities to pay alone. For every one grant they give out to poorer individuals, 1000s get skipped over.

Talented displaced hackers will almost always find a easier/better future in the dark, then say a Bryce or Tanner would, who can afford the tuition at Cornell University at 100k per year. Why I believe in universal college for everyone, since we give obscene tax breaks to corporations and ceos, especially in the tech and law industries.

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Ghost120x

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Take-Two is going to make an example out of the kid. I’m sure he’s going to regret what he did for a long time.

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Mesome713

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@Ghost120x: Most likely not. Hell accept a deal, hell either snitch how he did it or who he did it with to get out.

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SaturatedButter

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He did nothing wrong, though.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@saturatedbutter: If this guy didn't hack Rockstar Games, (and they just grabbed the wrong person altogether), then yeah, he did nothing wrong.

But if this is the individual who hacked Rockstar Games, that is illegal all day long. It's considered to be a Cyber Crime, (the key word being "crime").

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@thecupidstunts: He also blackmailed 2K. He demanded they pay a ransom or he'd sell the data.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Barighm: Oopsie...

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gamespotter_198

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@saturatedbutter: why is it not wrong to publish something that isn't explicitly public information?

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dtobin123

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@gamespotter_198: Because what was released was not public information. Game developers only want people to see the game in a polished form when they are ready for people to see it. Not only was the gameplay footage nowhere near the finished product but even if it was they would want to market it with a huge reveal - not by it randomly being thrown out to the public.

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gamespotter_198

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@dtobin123: you may have misread my comment. I was replying to @saturatedbutter's comment that he didn't do anything wrong. I do think it is wrong to publish something that is not explicitly meant for public consumption in this context because Rockstar didn't give anyone explicit permission to do so. Whether or not this specific guy did something wrong is something up to the law enforcement to figure out based on evidence. If he was indeed involved and facilitated the leak in some way, I do think he did something wrong.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@dtobin123: You may have misunderstood. They didn't ask why is it wrong, they asked why is it not wrong. They were responding to someone who said this kid did nothing wrong. 🙂

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