A Quick Update on the Palin E-mail Hacking Case

t’s been a few weeks since Sarah Palin’s private e-mail account was broken into and I’m sure many of you are curious what happening with the case.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any new information on the investigation or suspects… Michelle Malkin has confirmed the investigation is ongoing though:

I talked to Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney today for a follow-up. She says the “inquiry is ongoing.” She couldn’t comment on any federal grand jury activity that might be taking place related to the case.

SecurityFocus columnist Mark Rasch’s latest column examines the relevant federal statutes and how it might apply to the Palin case:

The Vice of Vice Presidential E-Mail
Mark Rasch, SecurityFocus, October 6, 2008

Is it a crime to read someone else’s e-mail without their consent?

Seems like a simple question, but the law is not so clear. In mid-September 2008, a hacker using the handle “Rubico” claim credit for breaking into the Yahoo! e-mail account of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. In a post online, Rubico wrote that he had been following news reports that claimed Palin had been using her personal Yahoo e-mail account for official government business. (Editor’s note: Reports have linked David Kernell, a 20 year old undergraduate at the University of Tennessee, with the intrusion, but Kernell has not been charged nor indicted.)

To break into Palin’s account, Rubico had to figure out the personal details that the governor used as security questions. From behind a single proxy server, Rubico used a form of social engineering to change Palin’s password to “popcorn” and then posted both the technique he used and a few of the e-mails he observed. The technique was relatively simple and took less that 45 minutes, because much of Palin’s information was public. Read the rest…

Update (Tuesday, October 7, 2008 @ 10:05 a.m.): I originally wrote this post a little after 11:00 p.m. last night and after rereading it this morning I decide to change the title and rewrite parts of it. The most significant change is quote from Michelle Malkin’s article.

Update: Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted

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