14 DAY TRIAL // Public persons are surely among the people who care the most about their reputation. This is only understandable after all, since, if a celebrity's private account on a social network is hacked, then the one behind it can make quite a few easy bucks by blackmail. This was precisely the case with the person who broke into the MySpace account of American rapper Soulja Boy.
The singer was asked to pay $2,500, a relatively small amount if you think about the money celebrities make. However, the unusual demand could be explained by the fact that Soulja Boy has not yet reached A-list status, still being what you would call a “rising star.” But there is yet another reason for it, which is more likely – the hacker who broke into the rapper's account and wrote offensive posts about Soulja Boy's fans and personal life, is only 12 years old, therefore, he might not be very aware of the value of money.
After receiving the request for the $2,500, Soulja Boy contacted his record label, Interscope, which, in turn, sent a request to MySpace to terminate the account. In a video posted on YouTube, the rapper told his fans about the incident and about how he felt because of it, at the same time letting them know that the young hacker got into more than just one of his accounts. He also said that, had the hacker not been found in due time, he would have offered a $10,000 reward to whoever would have aided authorities, providing them with clues towards his apprehension. In the end, Soulja Boy got to keep his money, as the criminal was eventually caught.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the rapper was not the first to have his privacy at risk of being exposed by hackers. Other celebrities who went through the same unpleasant experience are Justin Timberlake, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys and Nas. The first two have had security issues with their MySpace accounts. Although it is the most popular online social network on the US market, it seems like MySpace needs to reinforce its technologies in order to make users feel safer.