The hacker who stole and sold Ed Sheeran songs for cryptocurrency in prison

A hacker who stole unreleased Ed Sheeran songs behind bars. In total, more than 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists were found on his hard drives.

Adrian Kwiatkowski, a hacker from Ipswich, England who stole two yet-to-be-released Ed Sheeran songs, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to the BBC. Adrian Kwiatkowski sold tracks by Ed Sheeran and twelve other songs by American rapper Lil Uzi Werth for £131,000 worth of cryptocurrency (€150,000) on the dark web.

The hacker who stole unreleased Ed Sheeran songs behind bars

The British prosecutor explains that Adrian Kwiatkowski was able to get his hands on these as-yet-unpublished songs by hacking into their cloud accounts. It’s unclear which cloud services are affected, but this individual has stolen files from many more artists. Indeed, authorities found no less than 1,263 unpublished songs in his possession.

US authorities launched an investigation in 2019 after several musicians reported to the New York District Attorney’s office that someone named Speardark had hacked into their accounts and was selling their content online. Investigators eventually linked Adrian Kwiatkowski to the email address that Speardark used with the cryptocurrency account associated with the case. In addition, his UK address was linked to an IP address that was linked to one of the hacked devices.

In total, more than 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists were found on his hard drives.

When he was arrested, British police found seven devices containing at least 1,263 songs from 89 different artists. Authorities found other compromising files on his hard drive, including a document in which he detailed the method used to hack victims’ accounts. They also found his bitcoins, the bitcoins he admitted he got for the songs. In total, the man pleaded guilty to 19 charges, including copyright infringement and possession of criminal property, enough to send him to jail for a year and a half.