New password ... the person who claims they are responsible for hacking into vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin`s emails has revealed how they did it.
Hacker gets into Sarah Palin`s emails
They`ve revealed how they did it
A little bit of information went a long way
A "LURKER" who hacked into Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin`s private email account has revealed how he did it.
In an account being circulated on the internet, the person tells how he was able to impersonate Mrs Palin online to obtain her password.
"I am the lurker who did it, and I would like to tell the story," the person wrote. "What started as a prank was cut short because of panic over the possibility the FBI might investigate."
The hacker guessed that the Alaskan Governor, whose private life has been widely covered in the media since Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain asked her to be his running mate, had met her husband in high school. The person also knew her date of birth and home post code.
Using those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo`s email service into assigning a new password - popcorn - for her email account.
Yahoo has a "forgot my password" mechanism that allows customers to retrieve or change their password if they can verify their identity by confirming personal information such as birthday, post code and the answer to a "secret question", such as a pet`s name or school mascot.
Mrs Palin`s hacker was challenged to guess where Alaska`s governor met her husband, Todd.
Mrs Palin herself recounted in her speech at the Republican National Convention that the pair began dating 20 years ago in high school in Wasilla.
"I found out later through more research that they met at high school, so I did variations of that, high, high school, eventually hit on `Wasilla high`," the person wrote.
The hacking of Mrs Palin`s private email account is especially significant because Mrs Palin sometimes uses non-government emails to conduct state business.
Previously disclosed emails indicate her administration embraced Yahoo accounts as an alternative to government email, which could possibly be released to the public under Alaska`s Open Records Act.
At the time, critics of Mrs Palin`s administration were poring over official emails they had obtained from the Governor`s office looking for evidence of improper political activity.
The FBI and Secret Service have launched a formal investigation into the "lurker`s" prank.
Investigators were waiting to speak with Gabriel Ramuglia who operates an internet anonymity service used by the hacker.
Mr Ramuglia said he was reviewing his own logs and promised to turn over any helpful information to authorities because the hacker violated rules against using the service for illegal activities.
"If you`re doing something illegal and causing me issues by doing this, I`m willing to co-operate (with the authorities)," he said.
The McCain campaign issued a statement condemning the breach of privacy. "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor`s privacy and a violation of law," it read.
"The matter has been turned over to the authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them."
New password ... the person who claims they are responsible for hacking into vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin`s emails has revealed how they did it.
Serves her right. Webmail is very unsecure and she is stupid enough to use it for business? Hope he found some interesting reading.
Posted by: The Word of Vaucluse 7:54am today
I am glad that there are people out there that are willing to punish dumb people, even if they are high profile politicians. Yahoo mail is designed for advertising. They scan your email and advertise based on the text. How did she ever think that was going to be secure. Unfortunately, the guy that did this is going to get shafted hard, because he "hacked" into an email account, rather than Palin getting shafted for using insecure email procedures. The Alaska government spends 45million a year on IT services, surely they can provide her with a webmail account. This is as much Palin's fault as it is the "hacker's" fault. I'd much rather see this prankster do it now, than some Iranian "prankster" gets into her vicepresident.sarah@yahoo.com email account and steals state secrets 2 years down the track.
Posted by: Anonymous of Brisbane 6:35am today
Yes, Oscar, I"m sure you'd think it was 'pure genius' if it was YOUR personal emails being hacked.And the fact that the guy is BOASTING about how he did it? Here's my illegal activity and here's how I did it!Great - now if I could just get someone to tell me how to knock over a bank, I'll be cool...
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