British boy arrested for hacking of Rockstar, Uber
A 17-year-old boy from Oxfordshire in England was reportedly arrested sometime last week for alleged hackings of Uber and game developers Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar. The Desk’s Matthew Keys reported that the unnamed teen was held for multiple charges, including “conspiracy to attack at least two computer systems”.
Via a statement released on September 22, the City of London Police Department confirmed that a joint investigation between the NCCU and FBI had resulted in the arrest. According to Daily Mail’s Paul Farrell, the teen appeared in a closed youth court on September 25 for four counts—two of breach and bail and another two of computer misuse.
“On the evening of Thursday 22 September 2022, the City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the @nca_uk’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU). He remains in police custody,” the City of London Police wrote.
The teen, who was later identified with the initial AK and the online moniker Teapottuberhacker, was arrested at his mother’s house. According to the City of London Police, he will remain in custody as the investigation continues. Keys said a law enforcement source had revealed that more suspects would likely be identified and apprehended.
The media are not allowed to share the suspect’s name as he is considered a minor. The United Kingdom authority said the boy was arrested over “suspicion of hacking” but refused to provide more details. The FBI also has yet to release any comments on the arrest at the time of writing.
More details on AK’s hackings
On September 18, a hacker named Teapottuberhacker leaked almost 100 footage/clips of Grand Theft Auto VI, an upcoming installment of the series, which is still in its early development stage. The leak, which became viral on social media, led to a massive outcry from fans who were very disappointed with the developer’s most-awaited title.
Rockstar responded to the leak last week, saying it had suffered “a network intrusion” from an intruder who had accessed and downloaded confidential information from its system. The incident is one of the biggest hacking in the history of the video game industry.
“We recently suffered a network intrusion,” Rockstar said in an official statement published on Twitter. “An unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto.”
The leak was posted on the GTAForum website, with the hacker saying that he “could leak more data soon”, which included the source code of GTA V and VI and build test results of the latter. Shortly after the massive data breach, Rockstar announced that it had asked the FBI to help with the matter.
The FBI said that the online breach on Rockstar was related to a similar case with Uber. Via The Desk, a law enforcement source revealed last week that Teapottuberhacker was also involved in the case.
An Uber spokesperson said in a statement that the perpetrator had accessed its system via a contractor’s credentials, whose username and password were stolen.
