Man Guilty Of Hacking Celeb Accounts Gets Nine Months Behind Bars

Illinois resident Edward Majerczyk, who pleaded guilty last September to computer hacking charges, has been sentenced by a US court to nine months in prison, Reuters reports. Majerczyk had admitted to hacking around 300 user accounts - including those of 30 celebrities - and gaining access to their private data.

Names of his celebrity victims were not officially confirmed but investigations began after actresses Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union and model Kate Upton complained of their private photos being leaked online.

Majerczyk confessed to obtaining login details of his victims through phishing attacks and accessing their iCloud backups, but no evidence of him being behind the actual leak of photos and videos was found. His lawyer said Majerczyk's actions were the result of his suffering from depression.

His sentence begins February 27.

Read more on Reuters.