Rockstar Hacker Arrested, Tied to Alleged Murder Plot

Dutch police have arrested a 24-year-old Amsterdam man in the ShinyHunters hacking investigation, the same group behind the April 2026 Rockstar Games breach. What police say they found on his laptop after the arrest is darker than any hack: alleged plans for two murders to be committed abroad, which he is suspected of ordering himself.

The key facts

• Arrested: September 15 in Amsterdam, appeared in court September 29
• Held in: the Dutch ShinyHunters criminal-organization probe
• Also suspected of: attempted incitement to commit two murders (police say this is a separate investigation)
• The group denies it: ShinyHunters says he is not one of theirs
• The breach: April 2026, via a third-party vendor, 80 million files claimed, ransom demanded, Rockstar paid nothing

Who he is

The suspect was identified via Reuters, citing a statement from Neo Security, as Pepijn van der Stap, an offensive security lead at an Amsterdam-based cybersecurity firm. He had previously been convicted of data theft and extortion, then publicly disavowed cybercrime and built a career defending against it. Source: RockstarINTEL

What police found on the laptop

According to the Dutch police statement:

"The Amsterdam resident is suspected of participating in a criminal organization and has been arrested for that reason. Following his arrest on September 15, a large amount of information was found on his laptop, including details about two murders that were to be committed abroad. There are indications that the suspect gave the order for this. Therefore, the man is also suspected of attempted incitement to commit two murders. That suspicion is separate from the investigation into ShinyHunters. The suspect is being held in complete isolation, and the police are conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations."

This is an active investigation, not a conviction. Police explicitly stress the murder suspicion is separate from the hacking case. Source: RockstarINTEL

The twist: ShinyHunters says he is not theirs

In a strange turn, ShinyHunters has denied the suspect is associated with the group at all. Meanwhile the FBI's Cyber Division chief has publicly warned the group's remaining members that investigators know how to find them. So Dutch police are holding a man in the ShinyHunters probe, and ShinyHunters says he was never theirs. Source: Gameranx

The April 2026 Rockstar breach, explained

The hacking case dates to April 2026, when ShinyHunters infiltrated Rockstar through a third-party vendor's software and claimed to have taken 80 million files. The group demanded a ransom and threatened to release everything. Rockstar refused to pay.

Rockstar later confirmed the incident: "a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed in connection with a third-party data breach. This incident has no impact on our organization or our players."

Because no ransom was paid, the files were released, and they gave the public a rare look inside Rockstar's business, including GTA Online's real revenue and player numbers. Embarrassing, but not destructive. Gameranx noted it was nowhere near as damaging as the separate Cyberleek leaks. Sources: RockstarINTEL, Gameranx

Our take: this was never about a hack

Strip away the crime-thriller details and the throughline is money. Hackers do not breach Rockstar for fun. They do it because Rockstar's data, its unreleased builds, its revenue figures, its player counts, are worth real money as ransom leverage and on the black market. The April breach happened because GTA is one of the most valuable entertainment properties on earth. The arrest happened 50 days before the biggest launch in industry history.

Nobody risks prison over a video game. They risk it over what the game is worth.

And here is the question nobody is asking: if the breach was truly "non-material," why did closing the loop take an international police probe, an FBI warning, and a suspect now held in complete isolation? Either Rockstar downplayed it, or the people circling this game value it far more than Rockstar admits.

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Sources: RockstarINTEL | Gameranx | RealHackerNews (FBI/ShinyHunters probe)

Developing story. The murder allegation is under investigation and the suspect has not been convicted of any charges described above.