[German]In the last few days, I reported on various hacks at the ride service provider Uber, at Rockstar Games, and so on. A hacker with the alias Tea Pot claims to be only 18 years old and to have penetrated various IT systems for "fun". Subsequently, data was published. Now there are reports that the hacker belongs to the $Lapsus group – and an arrest of a 17 year old in the UK – in connection with hacking – has been reported.
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Hacks at Uber/Rockstar Games
In mid-September 2022, it was revealed that U.S. ride-share company Uber was the victim of a hack. An 18-year-old claimed to have hacked into the Uber system "for fun." Uber employees initially thought the whole thing was a joke. The hacker has since published confidential data.
The same applies to the hack at Rockstar Games, where source code from GTA 5 and 6 was probably captured. Now, a user on GTAForums has posted 90 video taken from a test build of Grand Theft Auto 6. The hack and leak probably had the purpose of blackmailing game developer Rockstar Games, with the hacker claiming to be behind the attack on Uber as well.
Is the hacker part of the Lapsus$ group?
The hacker's approach to gaining access via social engineering is strongly reminiscent of the activities of the Lapsus$ group of hackers, which consists of young people. The fact that the hacker from the above cases claims to be only 18 years old fits in with this.
Brett Callow of Emsisoft points out in the above tweet that the teenager allegedly involved in the hacking of Microsoft and Nvidia also participated in the Uber hack. Callow is referring to information provided by the person who revealed the identity of the 18-year-old hacker from the Lapsus$ group, an 18-year-old Briton. The screenshot in the tweet contains some information in this regard.
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17 year old arrested in the UK
Now, police from London have announced the arrest of a 17 year old for hacking activities – see the following tweet. No names are given for personal security reasons.
But on the evening of September 22, 2022, City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire on suspicion of hacking. The arrest was made as part of an investigation supported by the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) of the. Putting 2+2 together, the link between the above hacks, the disclosure of the hacker's identity and the police arrest is obvious.
Whether it is the same person who was arrested once before in spring for hacks related to the Lapsus$ group is unknown to me. Spiegel Online also draws some connections in this German article – the hacker definitely belongs to the same group. Addendum: Lawrence Abrams from Bleeping Computer has published also an article summarizing the information already known.
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