Tea Pot, an 18-year-old who was the face of an attack on Uber a few days ago, has struck again, this time against American video game publisher Rockstar Games, the creator of Grand Theft Auto, in one of the most serious security breaches in the gaming sector.
Rockstar Games said it had been the victim of a “network intrusion” that allowed unauthorized users to illegally download early Grand Theft Auto VI footage, adding that it was unclear how it happened and that it did not expect any disruption to its live game services or long-term impact on the development of ongoing projects as a result of Tea Pot’s access to confidential information from its systems.
The hacker revealed that the videos were downloaded from Slack and that if he is not paid, he will leak more after having leaked more than 90 videos of game clips and will damage the company’s operations by including source code, assets and test builds of both GTA 5 and GTA 6.
Tea Pot most likely used the same multi-factor authentication (MFA) bombing technique it used on Uber to get past extra account security layers.
The leaked footage showed the setting of the game in a fictionalized version of Miami, which was also the setting for GTA: Vice City in 2002, as well as animation tests, level layouts and some gameplay demonstrations, confirming the rumor that the game will have its first playable female protagonist.
The company said it was extremely disappointed but would continue as planned because it was determined to exceed expectations.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheHackerNews.