Two young German guys have successfully hacked into the computers of pop stars such as Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and Kelly Clarkson with the intention of finding and selling unreleased material found on the hard drives. Their brilliance is limited to their tech savvy, though — they’ve been bragging about it in online forums, and the FBI and German authorities are investigating the duo after Clarkson discovered that her leaked music was circulating online and notified the police. More disturbing, the German hackers were not simply interested in “liberating†unreleased material and have gathered data from numerous stars’ personal computers for blackmail purposes, including an image of Ke$ha “naked and having sex.†Apparently the two had attempted to extort money from the singer using the photo for leverage but were unsuccessful, perhaps because an explicit jpeg wouldn’t do much to alter Ke$ha’s public image. More modest stars should hope that these guys are busted soon!
Grabbing Gaga’s Gigabytes! Underaged Germans Pull Off Massive Pop Star Computer Hack [NYO]