I'm at Guildford Crown Court for the long-delayed sentencing of two teen hackers from the Lapsus$ gang. Arion Kurtaj hacked Rockstar Games in 2022 leaking 90 clips of unfinished GTA6 gameplay. He and his accomplices also hacked Nvidia, EE, and Revolut in their hacking spree. The 17-year-old is in the dock waiting for his sentence. Kurtaj is on video call from Feltham Youth Prison sat alone in a black Airmax t-shirt listening to defence summing up. Judge to deliver imminently.

In November last year I travelled to Russia to try to track down and speak to alleged members of the hacking group Evil Corp. We travelled thousands of miles and got close, but ultimately, we failed. But perhaps I should have gone to Sochi... 🧵 bbc.co.uk/news/technolog… An anonymous Russian security researcher got in touch recently after apparently stumbling on Evil Corp's 'Sochi hacking bureau'. The clips are from popular Russian YouTube supercar channels and most of the source vids are still on YT and VK.

🧵State of play in the social media info wars between Russia and Silicon Valley:

YouTube (Alphabet) has demonetised and algorithmically demoted Russian state-owned media “in light of extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine”. Russia is demanding 'access' to its channels returned Facebook/ Instagram (Meta) has also demonetised Russian state outlets like RT and Sputnik for disinformation. Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor accused Meta of "censorship" and violating "the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens" before threatening to restrict it

Prosecution laying out their case against Rachid: “He provided an unstoppable and hatefilled flow of encouragement for others to commit acts of terror... attacks with vehicles, explosive devices, bombs, chemicals, any attack you can imagine one person committing on their own.” Prosecution: “Rashid’s suggestions included injecting poison into ice creams stocked in super market freezers and targeting #PrinceGeorge as he attended his first day of school.”