The GTA 6 hack has led to the US government looking for stricter protection for companies such as Rockstar Games.
Back in September 2022, a teenage hacker allegedly hacked Rockstar Games releasing 90 videos of GTA 6. This also came with a threat of leaking its source code. The teenager was arrested and pled not guilt. Over the last few months the teen has been charged on several different counts and deemed unfit to stand trial.
It wasn’t only Rockstar Games who suffered at the hands of this teenager. Prosecutors claim just days before the Rockstar hack, he broke into Uber and Revolut.
Himself and 17 year-year-old are also accused of blackmailing the UK’s biggest broadband and mobile network companies BT and EE from July to November 2021 under the hacking group Lapsus$.
In a Tweet on Monday, the United States Department of Homeland Security shared a report by the Cyber Safety Review Board.
According the CSRB, “Lapsus$ used simple techniques to evade industry-standard security tools and outlined 10 actionable recommendations for how government, companies, and civil society can better protect against Lapsus$ and similar groups.”
One of these techniques is SIM swapping. The report reads “includes recommendations for cell phone carriers to better protect their customers by implementing stringent authentication methods, and for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to mandate and standardize best practices to combat SIM swapping.”
If you’re unaware what SIM swapping is, it involves the hacker contacting your mobile network impersonating you. They are then able to get a SIM card for your phone number. That allows them to deactivate your SIM and then they can use theirs with your number to access any SMS two factor authentication codes.
The CISA is recommending companies to implement new authentication methods, moving away from SMS based codes. Passwords are stated to be an issue and recommendations of fingerprint based security or a hardware key.
We hope such a hack does not occur again with Rockstar Games and its employees.
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