German hackers sentenced for stealing Lady Gaga songs

The two German youths that have been arrested in December for stealing unreleased songs of over fifty recording artists and selling them online have been found guilty of multiple counts of copyright violation and hacking.

23-year old Christian M. received a 18-month suspended prison sentence, while the 18-year old Deniz A. was sentenced to spending 18 months in an institute for juvenile offenders.

According to Softpedia, the two defendants have managed to get over 15,000 euros from the sale of the stolen songs. The younger one also tried to blackmail singer Ke$ha into mentioning him in one of her songs in return for some compromising photos of her that he managed to get his hands on.

They two have gained access to the computers belonging to the artists’ managers by installing information-stealing Trojans that were likely delivered via links or attachments in emails. It also seems that they were part of a larger hacking community that dedicated its efforts to stealing unreleased material.