Police in London have revealed that a 17-year-old minor has been charged with multiple counts of computer abuse and bail violations. The youth is suspected of being involved in high-profile breaches at Rockstar Games and ride-hailing giant Uber.
The suspect was detained in Oxfordshire on September 22 as part of an investigation by the City of London Police, which primarily focuses on financial crimes, and was assisted by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency. The suspect’s name was withheld due to reporting restrictions in the U.K. prohibiting the identification of non-adults.
According to Detective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan of the City of London Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, “The City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire [on September 22] on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU).” He is still being held by police after being charged in connection with this inquiry.
The arrest of the adolescent was not related to any specific incident, according to the police.
Last week, Uber said that it thinks a hacker connected to the Lapsus$ hacking organisation was to blame for the latest cyberattack that prompted the business to shut down a number of its internal tools while it kicked the hacker out of its network. The transportation giant claimed that the hacker responsible for the leak of dozens of videos comprising previously unseen gameplay and footage and Rockstar Games, the publisher of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, may have also been responsible for the intrusion at its own company.
A user using by the handle “teapotuberhacker” claimed to be the same person behind Uber’s breach in a number of posts on the Grand Theft Auto fan site GTAForums.
The teen’s identity is still unknown and probably won’t be for several months, but the most recent charges are thought to be connected to earlier ones made by the City of London Police in March, when seven people between the ages of 16 and 21 were detained on suspicion of having ties to the Lapsus$ hacking group. Earlier this year, breaches at Okta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Samsung were attributed to Lapsus$.
A number of the detained people were freed on bond with restrictions.
At that time, Bloomberg stated that a 16-year-old adolescent from Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, was thought to be the group’s leader. Four researchers looking into the gang’s most recent hacks said they thought the adolescent, who goes by “White” or “Breachbase” online, was a key player in Lapsus$. After his personal information was posted online, reportedly by competing hackers, Bloomberg found the claimed hacker.