News

Life for this seems absolutely insane.

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.

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.

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?

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

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?

Wtf, life in prison because you made a corporation look bad?

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.

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!'

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.

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.

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?"

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.