Michael Jackson’s entire back catalogue has been stolen by internet hackers. Sony music suffered its second major security breach in a year, with thieves targeting songs and unreleased material by the superstar singer. It’s alleged they downloaded more than 50,000 music files, worth £160million, in the biggest ever cyber attack on a music company. The news comes just a year after Sony paid £250million for the seven-year rights to the songs following Jacko’s death. The contract with Jackson’s estate also allowed them to release 10 new albums, including material from studio sessions produced during the making of some of the star’s biggest albums. The singer, who died in June 2009 at the age of 50, had recorded unreleased duets with artists ranging from the late Freddie Mercury and Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am. In April the details of 77million gamers were stolen after Sony’s Playstation Network was hacked. The breach cost Sony £106million and hugely damaged their reputation. The attack on the Jackson files occurred shortly afterwards but has not been revealed until now. The hack was discovered during routine monitoring of social networking sites, Jackson fan sites and hacking forums. A source close to the company said: ‘Everything Sony purchased from the Michael Jackson estate was compromised. ‘It caused them to check their systems and they found the breach. There was a degree of sophistication.
