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GTA 6 gameplay video leaker conducted hack with an Amazon Fire Stick and hotel TV

Among other things, the leaked GTA 6 gameplay videos revealed a female protagonist (Image: Rockstar Games)
Among other things, the leaked GTA 6 gameplay videos revealed a female protagonist (Image: Rockstar Games)
The cyber criminal from Great Britain supposedly connected to the internet via a regular Amazon Fire TV Stick and a television set in his hotel room, which he used to gain unauthorized access to the source code of the highly anticipated sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, also known as GTA 6.

About eleven months ago, the gaming world was turned upside down when a whopping 90 video clips showing unfinished gameplay of the long-awaited triple-A blockbuster title Grand Theft Auto 6 emerged online. It only took British authorities a few days to locate and arrest the suspect, who apparently was a member of the notorious hacker collective named Lapsus$. Now, exciting details about the spectacular GTA 6 leak have been revealed as part of the corresponding legal proceedings. 

According to a report by the BBC, leaker Arion Kurtaj, who was a minor at the time of the crime, did not use any particularly sophisticated hardware to infiltrate the cloud services of GTA 6 developer Rockstar North. Instead, he utilized a simple Amazon Fire TV Stick, a smartphone, a keyboard and a mouse, all of which where found when the police ransacked his hotel room. By accessing the web via the hotel's television, he blatantly violated the internet ban which was included in the bail conditions that were imposed after his previous hack of GPU behemoth Nvidia.

It remains unknown whether or not Rockstar Games responded to the subsequent blackmail attempt, which revolved around the release of the source code of Grand Theft Auto 6 and not the well-known gameplay videos. It is also not entirely clear if the teenager was behind the leak of the footage, which was posted by a user named "TeaPotUberHacker" on a GTA fan forum. Presumably, the GTA 6 leaker was assisted by other members of the infamous hacker group. A 17-year-old accomplice, who apparently operated from both England and Brazil, was also put on trial for his involvement in these cyber attacks.

Despite the numerous details that the gameplay videos disclosed, including the Vice City setting and the game's characters, Rockstar Games has not unveiled any additional tangible information about GTA 6 thus far. The action-packed open-world game is currently expected to hit the market in 2024 at the earliest. Until then, impatient fans of the franchise might want to revisit Grand Theft Auto V on Sony's PlayStation 5, which is available from US$19 on Amazon.

Source(s)

BBC via Kotaku, Image: Rockstar Games

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2023 08 > GTA 6 gameplay video leaker conducted hack with an Amazon Fire Stick and hotel TV
Enrico Frahn, 2023-08-25 (Update: 2023-08-25)