WASHINGTON (AP) – Details emerged Thursday behind the break-in of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account, including a first-hand account suggesting it was vulnerable because a hacker was able to impersonate her online to obtain her password. The hacker guessed that Alaska’s governor had met her husband in high school, and knew Palin’s date of birth and home Zip code. Using those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo Inc.’s service into assigning a new password, “popcorn,” for Palin’s e-mail account, according to a chronology of the crime published on the Web site where the hacking was first revealed.
The FBI and Secret Service launched a formal investigation Wednesday. Yahoo declined to comment Thursday on details of the investigation, citing Palin’s privacy and the sensitivity of such investigations.
The person who claimed responsibility for the break-in did not respond Thursday to an e-mail inquiry from The Associated Press.
“i am the lurker who did it, and i would like to tell the story,” the person wrote in the account, which circulated on the Internet. What started as a prank was cut short because of panic over the possibility the FBI might investigate, the hacker wrote.
Investigators were waiting to speak with Gabriel Ramuglia of Athens, Ga., who operates an Internet anonymity service used by the hacker. Ramuglia told the AP on Thursday he was reviewing his own logs and promised to turn over any helpful information to authorities because the hacker violated rules against using the anonymity service for illegal activities.
“If you’re doing something illegal and causing me issues by doing this, I’m willing to cooperate,” Ramuglia said. “Obviously this is the most high profile situation I’ve dealt with.”
The break-in of Palin’s private account is especially significant because Palin sometimes uses non-government e-mail to conduct state business. Previously disclosed e-mails indicate her administration embraced Yahoo accounts as an alternative to government e-mail, which could possibly be released to the public under Alaska’s Open Records Act.
At the time, critics of Palin’s administration were poring over official e-mails they had obtained from the governor’s office looking for evidence of improper political activity.
Details of this week’s break-in, if authentic, were consistent with speculation by computer security experts who said Yahoo’s “forgot-my-password” service almost certainly was exploited. The mechanism allows customers to retrieve or change their password if they can verify their identity by confirming personal information such as birthdate, zip code and the answer to a “secret question,” such as a childhood pet’s name or school mascot.
Palin’s hacker was challenged to guess where Alaska’s governor met her husband, Todd. Palin herself recounted in her speech at the Republican National Convention that the pair began dating two decades ago in high school in Wasilla, a town near Anchorage.
“I found out later though (sic) 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 McCain campaign issued a statement describing the hacking as an invasion of Palin’s privacy.
Comment by thor on 9/18 @ 7:41 pm #
Sarah Palin is a genius whose email account should not be disturbed. This is a transgression against God, babies and the welfare State known as Alaska.
Comment by memomachine on 9/18 @ 8:21 pm #
Hmmm.
Doing anything serious on a Yahoo account is frankly dumb.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 9/18 @ 8:51 pm #
Now if Sarah Palin were a terrorist, her privacy would be sacrosanct.
TW= informal change …christ, that thing is eery!
Comment by Buzz on 9/18 @ 9:18 pm #
It isn’t that smart to use yahoo, hotmail, etc. But she probably started using it years ago when (a) her personal info wasn’t widely known and (b) she wasn’t being targeted by scumbags like this.
At the moment, evidence points to the 20 year old son of a TN State Representative (D). We shall see.
Comment by Topsecretk9 on 9/18 @ 9:23 pm #
dem/obama supporter son
The son of state Rep. Mike Kernell has been contacted by authorities in connection with a probe into the hacking of personal e-mail of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Kernell told The Tennessean.
Comment by mojo on 9/18 @ 9:36 pm #
“Careful what you say in here, Jenkins.”
“Why? These mooks don’t even speak English.”
“No, but they have tape recorders and they’ll learn English.”
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/18 @ 9:55 pm #
Which is why all the future convict found was family related.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/18 @ 9:56 pm #
TSK9 — Link? Pretty please?!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/18 @ 10:00 pm #
Doing anything serious on a Yahoo account is frankly dumb.
Evidence that she was doing anything “serious”?
From what I’ve read, the contents of the account were just trival family bullshit.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/18 @ 10:02 pm #
SBP — how long until the “IT WAS SCRUBBED!!!!” declaration comes out?
Hell, it probably already has; there’s one genius over at Patterico’s speculating that the whole thing was a Rove set-up, you know, like Memogate.
Comment by Topsecretk9 on 9/18 @ 11:20 pm #
Rob Crawford
Sorry, you’ve probably seen it by now, but just in case — they updated and changed it a bit now (you can double check what I pasted at Ace and Gatewaypundit
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/sep/18/tennessean-state-reps-son-contacted-palin-e-mail-p/
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/19 @ 12:00 am #
Yep, I’ve seen it.
Poor kid — sounds like he has emotional problems. But, that doesn’t excuse crime. He deserves massive punishment — odds are, he’ll get about the same as “Cold Cash” Jefferson.
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Comment by Darleen Click on 9/19 @ 12:59 pm #
the “doing government business on private account” was at best a speculation presented as fact and is now a lie. Indeed, the private account for family pics, emails of support, etc, presents as Gov. Palin keeping her private and official duties separate.
Anyone that supports, applauds, or excuses the theft of Palins private information is immoral. It’s an excellent litmus test.