GTA 6 Leaker Hacked Rockstar With An Amazon Fire Stick In Hotel

The leaker who accessed GTA VI details from Rockstar Games allegedly did so using an Amazon Fire Stick in an England hotel, according to a BBC report.

Read More: Everything We Know About Grand Theft Auto 6

The British publication reported that, according to court documents filed in the UK, 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj was “caught red handed” when the City of London Police searched his Travelodge hotel—where he was being held on bail after his March 2022 arrest for hacking chip manufacturer Nvidia—in the south-central England town of Bicester. There, law enforcement found the digital media player connected to the hotel room’s TV, which allowed Kurtaj to infiltrate cloud computing services with a keyboard, mouse, and smartphone.

This setup let him best the likes of global neobank Revolut, rideshare service Uber, tech giant Microsoft, and game publisher Rockstar Games. Kurtaj’s hack against Rockstar Games was described as his “most audacious”—not only because of his flagrant behavior during the hack, but because he executed it while on bail for other hacking-related crimes. Kurtaj even posted in the company’s Slack, telling staff he’s not an employee but “an attacker.”

Kurtaj claimed to have downloaded all of GTA VI’s data, stating that he’d release the source code unless Rockstar Games contacted him on the messaging app Telegram. It’s unclear if the publisher ever reached out to Kurtaj, but copious details about the game, from its female co-star to its Miami: Vice City setting, did leak online last year—though we don’t know for sure if Kurtaj was behind it all. The leak was so bad that Rockstar Games, after years of silence about the next installment in the GTA series, finally confirmed the game’s existence on X (formerly Twitter) in February 2022. It was an enormous leak, so if you missed any of it, I recommend you check out Kotaku’s post on everything we’ve learned about GTA VI since the hack occurred.

As a key member of the “digital bandits” known as the Lapsus$ group, Kurtaj didn’t work alone. As reported by the BBC, an unnamed 17-year-old was also booked for his involvement with the hacks. While other members of the cyber-crime gang, allegedly operating out of both Brazil and the UK, are thought to still be at large, the two teenagers have been arrested for their alleged crimes.

Kotaku reached out to Rockstar for comment.

Read More: GTA 6’s Leak Showed Us The Future, Now It’s Hard To Care About GTA Online

Kurtaj is still in custody, while the unnamed teenager is out on bail. Both culprits will be sentenced at a later date, according to the BBC.

 

Amazon MMO Finally Adds Horses, Skyrockets In Popularity

New World, Amazon Games’ fantasy MMO, has finally added horses to its previously horseless (and entirely mountless) setting of Aeternum. First released in 2021, New World has had players clamoring for rideable critters ever since, and although the privilege of straddling a horse, lion, or other mount, available only through the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion, will set you back $30, it’s nonetheless pushing New World to the very top of the Steam sales chart, PC Gamer noticed.

Outside of its reportedly abysmal development period (how very Amazon), New World’s most unattractive feature, its players suggested, was its lack of mounts.

“You can tell the game has no mounts because as soon as you get into an area with general chat there are a dozen people complaining about not having mounts at any given time,” Mike Fahey wrote in a Kotaku review. Otherwise, the game is delightful enough for people who like to fiddle, abundant in crafting, hunting, and cooking opportunities. Because of this, New World once attempted to combine its Joann Fabric sensibilities and no-mount policy in one cutesy, bizarre lore note, which explained that local efforts to domesticate animals “have led only to injury and a lot of swearing.”

“Therefore,” the note continued, “it’s important to transport ONLY as many goods as your own back can bear. Do not overburden your packs or carts. […] Your joints will thank you!”

Yeah, no one, no matter how tired they are from New World’s generous crafting opportunities, is buying that. And, clearly, Amazon couldn’t even convince itself that no mounts were a good idea; the description for the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion indicates it’ll finally reveal to players “the secret to taming and riding animals.”

The expansion lets you ride horses, wolves, and lions sheathed in customizable armor, and you can set your new pets’ names. Additionally, among new abilities and expedition quests, the Angry Earth expansion will introduce a Riding Trade Skill so you can “earn upgrades like increased speeds, buffs, attachments and higher tier consumable food for your new friend,” its description says. The expansion is currently available for purchase, and New World itself is discounted on Steam ($16) until October 10.

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