A 22-year-old cyber hacker, Skylar Dalziel, has been handed a suspended 21-month jail sentence for stealing unreleased music from renowned artists, including Coldplay, Shawn Mendes, and Bebe Rexha. Law enforcement officials from the City of London Police reported that Dalziel made approximately £42,000 by illegally accessing cloud storage accounts and selling the copyrighted tracks on the dark web.

During her sentencing at Luton Crown Court, Dalziel pleaded guilty to nine copyright offenses and four computer misuse offenses. The judge ordered her to complete 180 hours of community service as part of her punishment. The thefts were uncovered following a tip-off from the music industry, prompting police to raid her home and find her computer hard drives containing access to around 291,941 tracks, of which many were unreleased.

Dalziel's illegal activities came to light when Sony Music Entertainment detected a compromise in a cloud account owned by Upsahl and alerted the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) back in June 2021. According to police, she had been operating since April 2021, transferring portions of her earnings into accounts in the United States and collaborating with suspects abroad.

Det Con Daryl Fryatt from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit emphasized that "stealing copyrighted material for your own financial gain is illegal" and noted the broader impact on artists’ livelihoods and the recording industry. Richard Partridge from the Crown Prosecution Service criticized Dalziel’s actions, stating that she showed "complete disregard for the musicians' creativity and hard work."

The significant financial losses attributed to such criminal activities are alarming, contributing to an estimated annual loss of over 80,000 jobs in the industry. The case underscores ongoing efforts to combat music piracy, with law enforcement increasingly focused on cyber criminals operating on the dark web.

Dalziel’s case serves as a cautionary tale, making clear that authorities have both the resources and determination necessary to target and prosecute those engaging in copyright infringement. As the music industry fights to protect its creators, a clear message is being communicated: illegal activities will lead to serious consequences.

For more details on this case, visit the BBC News.