The footage leaks of Grand Theft Auto 6 were all together one of the largest and most impactful video game leaks in history, with the data breach of Rockstar Games leading to investigations from law enforcement agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom. It all began in mid-September of this year, when a hacker shared 90 videos of GTA 6 in a leak posted to the Grand Theft Auto forums. Although players were initially dubious of the clips' validity, Rockstar eventually confirmed that the videos were indeed legitimate and that development of the new GTA entry would continue despite the massive leaks.
Reactions from the public were mixed about the Grand Theft Auto 6 leak, for a variety of reasons. Because the game is in early stages of development, its graphics weren't necessarily up to par as what one would expect from a modern-day Rockstar title, leading to some negative fan reactions to the visuals of the videos. Others didn't like what the GTA 6 leak revealed about its story, characters, or setting, and were disappointed it didn't match what they'd had in mind for the game. However, many player reactions centered less on GTA 6 itself and more on the hacker - many wanted to know more about who'd shared the videos, how they'd acquired them, and why they decided to leak them.
GTA 6 Leaks - Who Allegedly Revealed All The Leaked Footage
Some may be surprised to learn that the Rockstar leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 wasn't allegedly the first big foray into hacking for the culprit. The leaker, who used the alias teapotuberhacker on the GTA forums when they posted the videos, is reported to have been a part of a few other recent high-profile hacking cases before they targeted Rockstar. According to FBI began investigating GTA 6's hacker, it became clear they were part of a group of hackers that went by the name Lapsus$.
Previously, the group Lapsus$ claimed responsibility for high-profile cases like the Uber hack that took place earlier in September and the infiltration of Nvidia, where they were able to access and share confidential designs from the company. Much of the hacking group's modus operandi revolves around the workplace chat app Slack, which they use to uncover more information about a company's inner workings and security protocols. In the case of the Grand Theft Auto 6 leak, the 90 videos that were posted online were actually all garnered from Slack itself - they had been exchanged between developers and could be accessed easily straight from chat.
Although teapotuberhacker ostensibly operated as part of the Lapsus$ group, it's unclear if the Rockstar data breach that led to the 90 leaked GTA 6 videos was a collective effort or the work of a sole actor. In any case, the City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of hacking offenses later in September. The boy was residing in Oxfordshire in the UK at the time of his arrest. Although the City of London Police didn't comment on whether the arrest was connected to the GTA 6 leaks, The Desk reporter Matthew Keys cited sources familiar with the investigation that they were indeed related.
GTA 6 Leaks - Why Rockstar Was Hacked
The end goal of the Lapsus$ hacking group is obvious even from the spelling of their name: money. In every infiltration the group has performed, extortion of money from companies in exchange for not sharing information has always been their biggest objective. When the GTA 6 hacker returned with threats of releasing source code, the motive appeared to be extortion. Lapsus$ has always been very upfront about this being their motive. As reported by Wired, during previous hacking operations, the group even issued the following statement over message app Telegram: ": The only goal is money, our reasons are not political. Please note: We are not state-sponsored and we are not in politics AT ALL."
However, as Wired reports about previous hacks from Lapsus$, although the group claims to be solely motivated by money, that isn't the only thing they've ever asked for in their negotiations with companies. With the Nvidia security breach, part of the demands made by Lapsus$ were reportedly for the electronics company to remove technology in their GPUs that impaired Bitcoin mining, and also asked them to release certain drivers.
There are some details about the GTA 6 leaker that will only be revealed if a trial takes place, and once the leaker is old enough for their identity to be shared. That being said, the basic facts of the case have come into shape: a teenage, UK-based hacker operating under the codename teapotuberhacker appears to have breached Rockstar Games' slack as a part of the cyber extortion group Lapsus$. Money would appear to be a key motivation, but it's difficult to speculate on what else could have informed their decision to leak those GTA 6 videos. In any case, it doesn't appear as though they have caused lasting damage. Rockstar Games has stated twice now that it does not expect the leak to halt development on Grand Theft Auto 6. Hopefully, the studio's hard work will get an official reveal soon, so that it can be shared with the world on its own .
Sources: exputer, City of London Police/Twitter, Wired
