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The Sarah Palin email hack was an illegal unauthorized access to the Yahoo! email account of 2008 U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. This access is being prosecuted as a felony, which if proven in court is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.^[1][2]

Incident

On September 16, 2008^[3], the private Yahoo! Mail account of Sarah Palin was hacked by a 4chan user.^[4] The hacker known as "Rubico" targeted Palin because he wanted to "derail her campaign."^[5]

After reading through Palin's emails Rubico wrote "There was nothing there, nothing incriminating — all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor."^[5] Rubico wrote that he used the Sarah Palin Wikipedia article to find out Palin's birthday in "15 seconds", one of the standard security questions used by Yahoo!.^[6] The hacker posted the account's password on /b/, an image board on 4chan, and screenshots from within the account to Wikileaks.^[7]

A /b/ user then logged in and changed the password, posting a screenshot of his sending an email to a friend of Palin's informing her of the new password on the /b/ thread. However, he forgot to blank out the password in the screenshot.^[8] A multitude of /b/ users attempted to log in with the new password, the account was automatically locked out by Yahoo!. The incident was criticized by some /b/ users, one of whom complained that "seriously, /b/. We could have changed history and failed, epically."^[9] The hacker admitted he was worried about being caught, writing "Yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fucked, I panicked, I still wanted the stuff out there ... so I posted the [information] ... and then promptly deleted everything, and unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state."^[6]

The hacker left behind traces of his activity. His IP address was logged at the single proxy he used, CTunnel, he also left his email address rubico10@yahoo.com when he posted at 4chan. Further the attacker revealed the original web address used by the proxy^[10] by leaving this information in the screenshot which according to experts can also help the investigation.^[10] 4chan is not archived, and posts are only retained for a short time. However, with the great interest surrounding the posts of Rubico, many, including wired.com archived the original posts. The email address left behind was then connected to David Kernell through various social networking profiles where it was used^[11], though no official investigation took place at this time.

Campaign response

John McCain's campaign condemned the incident saying it was a "shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law".^[10] Barack Obama's spokesman Bill Burton called the hacking "outrageous".^[6]

Federal investigation

The FBI and Secret Service began investigating the incident and on September 20, it was revealed that they were questioning David Kernell, a 20-year-old economics student at the University of Tennessee and the son of Democratic Tennessee State Representative Mike Kernell from Memphis.^{[1][12][13][14]} The handle used by the hacker when making his post at 4chan pointed to him, although this evidence was inconclusive because of the frequent pranks pulled at that board.^[15] The hacker's proxy service provided its logs, which pointed to Kernell's residence.^[12][15] David Kernell is a self described "Obamacrat"; a supporter of President Barack Obama.^[16]

FBI agents served a federal search warrant at the Knoxville Tennessee residence of David Kernell. Kernell, according to witnesses, fled the scene when the FBI agents arrived.^[17] Agents spent 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside his apartment. Kernell's three roommates were also subpoenaed and expected to testify the following week in Chattanooga.^[18] Kernell Sr. told Wired that he was aware that his son was a suspect, but he did not ask him anything about it over concerns that he may have to testify in court.^[19]

Indictment

A federal grand jury in Chattanooga, Tennessee considered Kernell's case in September but did not deliver an indictment.^[20] Kernell retained Knoxville, Tennessee attorney Wade V. Davies.

A second federal grand jury in Knoxville returned an indictment of Kernell on October 7, 2008.^[21] He was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C) and § 2701, or unlawful access to stored communications and intentionally accessing a computer without authorization across state lines, respectively.^[22] Kernell turned himself in the next day.^[23] Kernell pled not-guilty.^[24] The court released Kernell without bail.^[25] A trial date was set for April 2009 but has since been delayed at the request of both attorneys.^[23][26] Kernell's attorney claimed that using "an e-mail address and a birth date does not constitute identity theft", however the court rejected that argument saying "once Governor Palin chose the Yahoo! ID gov.palin@yahoo.com, that became her unique address, and no one else could choose it." The trial date after the delay is expected in 2010 April. ^[27]

References

Sarah Palin Political office Early political career · Governor of Alaska · Resignation as Governor  · Political positions Campaigns Electoral history · Alaska gubernatorial election, 2006 · McCain-Palin 2008 Media coverage Public image and reception · Katie Couric interviews Family Todd Palin (husband) · Bristol Palin (daughter) · Levi Johnston (father of grandson) Books and other media Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down · Going Rogue: An American Life · Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare · Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime · Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin · Who's Nailin' Paylin? Related articles Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal · Gravina Island Bridge · Sarah Palin email hack · The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah Palin