A teenager-hacker from Lapsus $ attacked Uber, Revolut, and Rockstar Games, and then extorted money from the developers of the popular Grand Theft Auto video game, according to prosecutors at the trial in London.
In September 2022, 18-year-old Arion Kurtai is accused of hacking Revolut and Uber, gaining access to information about approximately 5,000 Revolut customers, and causing damage to Uber of almost $3 million.
Prosecutors claim that a few days later, he hacked Rockstar Games and threatened to publish the source code of the planned sequel Grand Theft Auto on Slacks, sent to all Rockstar employees.
He is also accused, along with a 17-year-old teenager whose name is not disclosed, of extorting the largest British broadband provider, BT Group, and the EE mobile operator between July and November 2021, demanding a ransom of $4 million.
The couple, referred to as “key players” of Lapsus $ by prosecutors, are also accused of hacking NVIDIA Corp, the manufacturer of chips, in February 2022 and demanding payment to not release its data.
Prosecutor Kevin Barry told the jury in the court of the Southern District of London last week that the 17-year-old hacker hacked the cloud storage of the London police a few weeks after being arrested in connection with the attack on BT and EE.
Barry said that later Kurtai began a solo cybercrower campaign, attacking Revolut first, then Uber two days later, and then hacking Rockstar Games.
Kurtai has been recognized as legally insane by psychiatrists, so the jury will determine whether he performed the actions that are being presented to him, and he will not face a guilty or innocent verdict. If found guilty, he will also avoid prison.
He is facing 12 charges, including three counts of extortion, two counts of fraud, and six charges under computer laws.
The 17-year-old teenager faces two charges of extortion, two charges of fraud, and three charges under computer laws in connection with the hacking of BT and NVIDIA, which he denies. He has previously admitted guilt on two charges under computer laws and one charge of fraud.
Who are Lapsus $?
Lapsus $ is a hacker group that has taken responsibility in recent months for high-profile attacks on several large technology companies including T-Mobile, Samsung, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Vodafone. In addition to these attacks, Lapsus $ has also successfully targeted the Brazilian Ministry of Health