The FBI is currently investigating a hacker thought to be responsible for leaking dozens of videos of Rockstar Games’ upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 release, reports say.
Around 90 videos of the unreleased game were stolen from the notoriously secretive Rockstar Games and uploaded onto the internet last weekend. The hacked clips, which Rockstar has since admitted were genuine, appeared to confirm rumors that the sixth instalment would be set in Vice City, a fictional version of Miami seen on earlier GTA games, and would feature a playable female character for the first time.
Although Rockstar hasn’t mentioned the FBI’s involvement in communications relating to the cyber attack, the hacker who claimed responsibility also said it was behind a recent attack on ride-hailing company Uber. And in a blog post Uber revealed it was working with both the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to catch the attackers, Eurogamer and IGN report.
“We believe that this attacker (or attackers) are affiliated with a hacking group called Lapsus$, which has been increasingly active over the last year or so,” Uber said.
Related: Leaked GTA VI Gameplay Confirmed As Real, Rockstar Games Says Development Continues As Planned
[embedded content]
“This group typically uses similar techniques to target technology companies, and in 2022 alone has breached Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Nvidia and Okta, among others. There are also reports over the weekend that this same actor breached video game maker Rockstar Games. We are in close coordination with the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice on this matter and will continue to support their efforts.”
Rockstar, which only officially announced the existence of GTA 6 in February this year and has released no official footage of the game, said it was disappointed to have the next instalment of the franchise leaked before it was fully ready to be seen.
But we’re hoping this might spur the company to release some more official info soon because judging by what we’ve seen in the leaks it looks like it’s shaping up to be a great game. Which it damn well ought to be given Rockstar has had almost 10 years to come up with a follow-up to 2013’s phenomenally successful GTA 5.
