Alleged Hacker Behind GTA 6 and Uber Data Breach Arrested in UK
A 17-year-old has reportedly been detained by UK police in Oxfordshire on allegations of hacking in connection with the recent GTA 6 hack.
The arrest happened on Thursday night, according to a statement from the City of London Police, and the suspect is still being held. Journalist Matthew Keys said the arrest was connected to the recent Rockstar hack and maybe even an Uber security breach, citing a person who was alleged to be acquainted with the situation. According to Keys, the arrest was done in conjunction with an FBI investigation.
UPDATE: @CityPolice confirm 17-year-old arrested over hacking incident; source says the crime is related to intrusion on Rockstar Games and possibly Uber Technologies. https://t.co/lLHX2cpGfA $UBER
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) September 23, 2022
Police expected to give more details on arrest of 17-year-old Rockstar Games hacker later today, possible statement coming from the FBI later this morning/afternoon,”
-Matthew Keys
Uber, a major player in the transportation technology sector, earlier this week said that it was in touch with the FBI and US Department of Justice over the perpetrator of a recent security breach, who may be the same hacker responsible for Rockstar’s GTA 6 leak.
More than an hour of Grand Theft Auto 6 development video was leaked on Sunday by an anonymous user posting on the GTA Forums website, in what is likely to go down as one of the most high-profile data breaches in the gaming industry’s history. Although it is unknown whether the same hacker was responsible for both the GTA and Uber intrusions, Uber acknowledged the connection in a statement on Monday.
The GTA breach was officially recognised by Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two on Monday, and it said that it has “taken steps to isolate and contain this incident.”
We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto. At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects.”
-Take Two
The recent breach of businesses like Rockstar, Uber, and Blizzard has sparked many questions about the company’s preventive strategies. Years of expertise are destroyed by these leaks, thus decisive action must be made to prevent them in the future.
[UPDATE]: The hacker may have been recognized (as shown on Twitter) as a member of the Lapsus$ gang, which is said to have first connected through Telegram channels. Unfortunately, this individual may not be the only one. GTA forums have verified that the account was operated by many persons. This was evident in this forum post, which drew many inferences regarding the GTA 6 leaker, including the ones mentioned above.