New details are coming to light about the person responsible for the leaked Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, which was posted on Twitter in December 2023 with a “Buy $BTC” watermark.
On Thursday, pseudonymous internet sleuth ZachXBT shared new information about the identity of the leaker, saying the person in question swiped the official trailer on YouTube through unauthorized access. It was then shared via Twitter a day before the planned launch, but with a Bitcoin plug overlaid on top.
“The GTA 6 trailer was leaked by a threat actor using the pseudonym Skenkir,” ZachXBT wrote on Twitter this week. “He purchased access to the YouTube admin panel where he could preview unlisted videos.”
According to ZachXBT, Skenkir has also been implicated in over 40 high-profile SIM swap attacks, including those targeting Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, musician Steve Aoki, and prominent crypto critic Peter Schiff. ZachXBT shared screenshots of the leaker’s online interactions ahead of the trailer leak.
ZachXBT did not immediately respond. detoxification Request for comment.
In December, an anonymous Twitter account called “Gta6trailerleak” shared a leaked trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6. Franchise developer Rockstar Games had planned to release the highly anticipated first trailer for the game the next day, but was forced to release it early. Fixed low resolution leak.
After the GTA 6 trailer was leaked, YouTube has reportedly launched an internal investigation to determine if the leak came through the video platform’s backend.
“From what I can gather, YouTube has investigated employees violating their contractual agreements twice in the past 18 months by accessing backend content.” insider games‘s Tom Henderson wrote last week:
If true, the GTA 6 trailer leak would be the latest in a series of privacy and security issues for the tech giant, including a Google employee accessing private videos from Nintendo’s YouTube account and publicly leaking them.
Game leaks are nothing new. In fact, the game announced at the recent Sony PlayStation State of Play streaming event has been leaked in advance. Reports of accounts being accessed by YouTube due to backdoor access date back to 2013. Dexerto.
YouTube and Rockstar Games did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Decrypt.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
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