The latest news in the case of the teenager who targeted telecoms firms BT and EE, the silicon chip manufacturer Nvidia, and Rockstar Games is that he has been found guilty of the charges against him.
The autistic 18 year old from Oxford was deemed not fit to stand trial by psychiatrists so he did not appear in court to give evidence.
The jury were asked to determine whether or not he did the alleged acts – not if he did it with criminal intent.
After a two-month trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court plus nine hours and 19 minutes of deliberations, a jury unanimously found Kurtaj had carried out 12 offences in his hacking spree.
These offences included:
- Six counts of carrying out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer
- Three counts of blackmail
- Two fraud offences
- Failing to comply with a section 49 notice to disclose a key when he did not give up the password to his mobile phone when asked to by police
Kurtaj was accused alongside an unnamed 17 year old who was found not guilty of a charge of having carried out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer and a further charge of blackmail in relation to an attack against BT.
The 17 year old co-defendant previously plead guilty to one offence under the Computer Misuse Act and one count of fraud.
Kurtaj and the 17 year old were both members of the hacking group Lapsus$ during the attacks they carried out.
It is not clear how much money Lapsus$ has made from its cyber crimes as none of the companies targeted by the gang have publicly admitted paying the hackers.
The 17-year-old has refused to give police access to his cryptocurrency hardware wallet.
Sentencing
Sentencing dates have yet to be fixed for either defendant, however a case management hearing has been set for Kurtaj on September 21, and it is hoped that a sentencing date may be fixed for the 17 year-old on November 9.