Investigators may have nabbed the hacker who breached Rockstar Games and Uber.
On Friday, City of London Police announced it had arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire the day before on “suspicion of hacking.” The teenager currently remains in police custody.
City of London Police refused to elaborate. But journalist Matthew Keys reports the arrest is connected to the hacks on Rockstar Games and Uber, citing an unnamed source.
The BBC is also hinting the arrest of the 17-year-old is connected to larger events. “This is very significant. But we can’t say why because of reporting restrictions,” tweeted BBC reporter Joe Tidy.
The arrest is also raising eyebrows because earlier this year police in the UK arrested and charged a 16-year-old and 17-year-old for their involvement in the LAPSUS$ hacking group, which managed to breach Nvidia, Microsoft, and Samsung in the weeks before.
Despite the previous arrests, there’s been rumors online that at least one of the teens was later released. Uber now blames LAPSUS$ for breaching the company, citing the hacker’s techniques.
The hacker has so far avoided using the name LAPSUS$. Instead, he’s settled for the moniker “Tea Pot” and “Teapotuberhacker.” The hacker was also happy to brag about breaching both Uber and Rockstar Games after leaking stolen videos taken of the unreleased game Grand Theft Auto VI this past weekend.
In Uber’s case, the culprit managed to hijack the account of a company contractor, likely by buying the stolen credentials from a Dark Web marketplace and then repeatedly trying to log into the victim’s account.
“Each time, the contractor received a two-factor login approval request, which initially blocked access. Eventually, however, the contractor accepted one, and the attacker successfully logged in,” Uber said. The company has since been working with the FBI and the Justice Department on the investigation. The FBI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.