A 17-year-old was arrested by London City Police on September 22, apparently in connection with hacks of Uber and Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games. The teenager is being held on charges including conspiracy to attack at least two different computer systems. The Thursday night arrest of this teenager may have led to the capture of one of the biggest video game leakers in recent history.
London Police Force confirmed the arrest of an Oxford suspect on a social media channel regularly used for updates on police arrests, and clarified the suspect’s age, a vague charge of “suspicion of hacking”, and that the investigation was being coordinated with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and more specifically its National Cybercrime Unit.
Although the authorities have not yet confirmed anything, several well-known British journalists claim that it is indeed the GTA 6 hacker. This accusation was followed, a few hours later, by an article by American freelance journalist Matthew Keys, according to which the arrest was was in line with the recent theft and distribution of unreleased assets from British video game studio Rockstar North. This article cites “sources” to claim that the FBI was involved in this investigation and that the data seized also included parts of a massive breach linked to Uber. Keys’ report, at the time of going to press, has not been corroborated by major newsrooms in the US and UK.
Lapsus$ souponn
The leak in question is one of the biggest in recent history, as it essentially contains the world premiere of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI video game. Until this week’s leak, fans of the series had only rumors and hearsay about its potential setting (a Miami-like city that looks like Vice City) and its protagonists (a pair of “Bonnie and Clyde”, including the first playable woman in a GTA game). Both of these rumors were confirmed by the leak, which Rockstar ultimately confirmed was legit and originated from a three-year-old version of the game.
Prior to Thursday’s arrest, the author of the GTA VI gameplay leak initially claimed involvement in a recent massive Uber data breach, and Uber has publicly accused hacker collective Lapsus$ of the intrusion. Earlier, at least one Oxford teenager had been linked to Lapsus$ hacking efforts through a BBC article. British authorities did not confirm the truth of this report at the time, due to confidentiality rules regarding underage suspects. So, if the GTA VI leak could be linked to Lapsus$’s efforts, this link is still unconfirmed at this time.
Lapsus$ such hacking efforts were described by members on their official Telegram chat channels. Most of the group’s methods, at least as publicly disclosed, have taken advantage of vulnerabilities in standard “two-factor” multi-factor authentication systems, which typically revolve around less secure fallback options. that an attacker can exploit. The author of the GTA VI leak previously suggested he gained unauthorized access to Rockstar’s source code by accessing the company’s Slack chat interface, but as of press time he doesn’t. It’s not clear if this was also an “MFA bombardment” aimed at tricking an employee into unwittingly accepting something like a phone call.
If this week’s Oxford arrest is related to the GTA VI leak, the timeline would be much faster than another memorable European source code leak. German hacker Axel Gembe ended up telling the story of his arrest after breaking into Valve’s computer systems to download Half-Life 2 source code. took place approximately eight months after the leak was first reported.
Developers react to GTA VI leaks
This weekend’s Grand Theft Auto VI leaks continue to make a lot of noise for a variety of reasons. There are debates that are supposed to be there, and others… less so. This is particularly the case of a small minority of Internet users who did not hesitate to strongly criticize the visual aspect of the images and videos stolen from Rockstar, spreading their self-proclaimed knowledge by affirming that GTA VI, as it has been seen by the general public this weekend, was graphically disappointing. However, it turns out that visually, for a game in development, GTA VI is quite impressive. Some developers have taken this opportunity to correct this preconceived idea that a game must, at all times of development, be beautiful, by sharing archives of some of the titles they have worked on. The result is as fascinating as it is interesting.
When we are interested at least in the creation of games, we know that the design stages can certainly change from one developer to another, but that certain common points connect them; graphic design has never been a priority in this area. In a series of tweets, everyone then decided to display photos or videos of their creations at the pre-alpha stage, to better illustrate their point. A great solidarity with Rockstar Games, but also a real gold mine, a source of valuable information for media enthusiasts. follow, a small anthology of the most famous games thus exhibited in unfinished working versions.
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4 in pre-alpha version is arguably the most striking example
The French game A Plague Tale Requiem, artistic masterpiece, in one of its initial versions
Praised for its graphic quality, Remedy’s Control also appears in pre-release
And even the recent Cult Of The Lamb proves that in 2D either, the graphics are not the priority.
Source : Twitter
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