No indictment in Palin hacking case
Sarah Palin
(Credit: Alaska governor's office)A grand jury in Chattanooga, Tenn., investigating who hacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail ended its meeting on Tuesday without indicting a Tennessee lawmaker's son.
Speculation on the Internet has centered on 20-year-old David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student.
On the Internet forum 4Chan.org, where the e-mail break-in was first announced, posts attributed to someone named "Rubico" more or less described how the Yahoo account had been compromised using the password recovery feature. The e-mail address used for Rubico has been linked to Kernell.
Kernell's father, Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernel, further fueled speculation last week when he confirmed his son was the subject of the investigation. On Saturday, investigators searched David Kernell's campus apartment.
Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney told the
As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments. 
And now we want to make her Vice President and give her top security clearance and access to all our nation's secrets?
Doesn't seem like such a good idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPi17bX_4Ec
Do we have confirmation that information disclosed in that email violated OPSEC, INFOSEC, or any other security driven directives?
Email is the preferred method for the Gov't and has been for years. As long as the information is not classified (on any level) it is allowed to be transmitted.
<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/palin-e-mail-ha.html>
The hacker expressed "I read though the emails? ALL OF THEM? before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor?. And pictures of her family"
So, it's safe to conclude that the indictment of the OP is even more vaporous than the prosecutor's attempt to indict the hacker. It would be nice to haul out a senator's son and make an example putting hackers on notice, but really, this is turning into a non-issue on all fronts.
She's quite capable of being Vice President.
4chan is not a "hacker" forum. in fact, even the people on that forum that would be labeled as a "hacker" by the average person are not really hackers.
they are people who use tools, simple exploits, and web based services to do what they do. these people, likely, have likely never written a program in their life.
these people are called "script kiddies."
with that being said, 4chan is something like the 4th most popular message board in the united states. it gets hundreds of thousands of posts a day.
the VAST majority of the people who frequent the website have never done anything even remotely similar to hacking in their lives. the script kiddes and even the handful of real hackers that might ever grace its pages are the extreme minority of its users.
even this kid david is a minority, and he obviously was not a concern to anyone given his quick failure.
4chan is known for causing internet shenanigans. when thousands of people log onto a forum and start posting appalling comments, when thousands try to add themselves to someone's myspace, when thousands join virtual online communities there is no hacking going on.
4chan's "power" comes from numbers, not from skill.
even this story is mislabeled as nothing and no one was hacked, in the traditional sense.
this is more along the lines of phishing, which is a trap that only idiots and old ladies fall into.
True post is true!
Do a little research! go look at the postings in question, there was no Government business being conducted on yahoo mail.
There was some discussion about superfluous things such as private comments between two private people, like "can you believe how 'so and so" is reacting to this or that, in reference to official matters.
But there were no government business discussions in any of the emails read, the perpetrator even said so in his post when he broke the news that he had done it.
People really need to do SOME research before posting nonsense.
If the hacker had broken into her official "dot gov" email and found personal stuff, would you be upset that she was using government resources for a personal matter? I suspect so....
Second, email is not (and should never be construed as) a way to communicate securely. Email is the electronic equivalent of a postcard.
Third, if the Republicans spent this kind of zeal trying to find Bin Laden or safeguarding the US economy, then we wouldn't be in the mess we are today. Going after someone this vigorously for "hacking" into an email account (especially when the "hack" only required about five minutes of work and no real technical skills) is a modern day lynching.
The Republicans have gone too far.
Comments welcome: http://whenelephantsfly.blogspot.com
READing implies research. Research implies someone is actually interested in the truth.
Rebels/fanatics/etc. don't care about the truth, they just want to hear themselves yell.
Ok, I'm not into political bashing or character assassination but that was funny.....
...and shame on you!
Who said the kid didn't do it? Confirmed logs from the tunnel proxy shows the hack came from an IP address in a netblock belonging to the cable company ISP which serve's the kid's apartment complex. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.
The grand jury only met once today for a few hours to hear testimony from the kid's roommates, then went into recess for the day at lunch time. For all we know the grand jury could be reconvened tomorrow (or whenever schedule permits) to bring down the indictments and/or hear from other witnesses.
The headline should have read: "No indictments YET in Palin hacking case."
I can yell "fire" in a crowded theater in.... 1 second. Should that be legal?
If person A were to threaten the President's life on the other hand.... Let's just say the secret service are not known for their sense of humor.
So yes, WHO the crime is committed against is important. And it DOES and SHOULD affect the punishment the person receives. By his own admission this kid was hoping to alter a national election.
If you can't see the difference between what he did and what a person hacking your email in order to publicly embarrass you has done... I think you're being intentionally blind.
(http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/palin-e-mail-ha.html)
This really changed my views on this situation. This kid was out to alter national politics. At first I was thinking they should just slap this kid on the wrist and revoke his internet privileges for a few years. Now... I think a sterner punishment is more appropriate.
- by fdunn3 September 25, 2008 3:39 PM PDT
- Is it just me or is she cross-eyed?
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