Papa don't breach: Wannabe singer jailed for hacking Madonna

An aspiring-singer-turned-hacker has been jailed for accessing Madonna's online accounts and stealing her unreleased music tracks.

Adi Lederman, 39, had unsuccessfully appeared on Israel’s Kochav Nolad TV talent show before breaking into Team Madonna's email inbox and cloud-based systems last year to steal photographs and music. The intrusion provoked the Material Girl to fire up her Instagram app, and appeal to her fans to not listen to the leaked files.

The former Mrs Guy Ritchie released six songs from her Rebel Heart album early on iTunes as a damage-limitation exercise in the aftermath of the hack.

Lederman was arrested by Israeli police about a month later, leading to a prosecution that eventually resulted in a 14-month sentence agreed as part of a plea bargaining deal, the Jerusalem Post reported this week. Lederman, who admitted computer trespassing and copyright infringement, was also fined NIS 15,000 ($4,000 approx).

Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court heard that Lederman broke into email servers used by Kevin Antunes and Guy Oseary (Madonna’s musical director and talent manager, respectively). Access to the email accounts was used to seize control of online storage boxes, allowing the hacker to subsequently steal tracks from the Papa Don't Preach singer's cloud account. Lederman subsequently sold the music to two buyers for $300 each.

Commentary on the case can be found in a post by Graham Cluley on ESET's We Live Security blog here. ®