A London jury has found that an 18-year-old from Oxford was a member of the Lapsus$ hacking group responsible for a series of high-profile cyberattacks on major companies, including Rockstar Games, Uber, Microsoft, Nvidia and Okta.
In March 2022, City of London Police arrested seven people aged 16 to 21 due to their suspected ties to the Lapsus$ hacker group.
Arion Kurtaj, who was a key member of the group, was found guilty on 12 counts, including blackmail, fraud, and several violations of the UK’s Computer Misuse Act, BBC reported. Kurtaj, who has autism, was arrested several times within the past two years but continued his hacking spree using social engineering and SIM-swapping techniques. He targeted Revolut, accessing around 5,000 Revolut customers' information, and then Uber two days later, causing nearly $3 million of damage to Uber. He then hacked Rockstar Games and threatened to release the source code for the company's planned Grand Theft Auto sequel.
London police arrested Kurtaj in September 2022 after he violated bail conditions banning him from accessing the internet.
Kurtaj was assessed by psychiatrists as not fit to stand trial, the jury was asked to find whether he had committed the acts rather than deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty, according to BBC.
The jury also convicted another 17-year-old Lapsus$ member whose identity remains undisclosed due to his age of his involvement in the activities of the Lapsus$ gang.