City of London Police have confirmed that have arrested a teenager in Oxfordshire in relation to the recent Grand Theft Auto 6 hack.
Earlier this month (September 19), GTA 6 suffered what is being called one of the biggest leaks in video game history, with around one hour of footage from a test build of the game being uploaded online. The videos confirmed details, including character names, locations and timeframe.
After initial reports last week, a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire has been confirmed to have been arrested in relation to the leak and charged with two counts of breach of bail conditions and two counts of computer misuse. He was set to appear at the Highbury Corner Youth Court on Saturday (September 24). There has been no update from the court made public at the time of writing.
In a statement issued over the weekend, the City of London police said: “The City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on Thursday (September 22) on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit. He has been charged in connection with this investigation and remains in police custody.
“The teenager has been charged with two counts of breach of bail conditions and two counts of computer misuse.”
The teenager is only being identified by the initials A.K. because of his age, but is said to be associated with the hacking group Lapsus$. According to former Reuters journalist Matthew Keys, the investigation that led to his arrest has been “done in concert with an investigation conducted by the FBI”.
Last week (September 19), GTA developer Rockstar officially acknowledge the leak. “We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto,” a statement from the company read.
“At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects. We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. We remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.”
Earlier this year, a report alleged that a 16-year-old near Oxford was connected to hacking group Lapsus$, which had targeted companies including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Ubisoft.
Meanwhile, publisher Take-Two has spoken about its ambitions for GTA 6 to set an industry-wide benchmark upon its release. “With development of the next entry in the GTA series well underway, the Rockstar Games team is determined to once again set creative benchmarks for the series, our industry, and for all entertainment, just as the label has done with every one of their frontline releases,” said CEO Strauss Zelnick.
