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Palin Email Hacker Found
mortonda writes to tell us that the person responsible for breaching Sarah Palin's private email account has been found. We discussed the breach last Wednesday, shortly before the hacker, a University of Tennessee-Knoxville student, posted a message detailing his methods. Wired has a story examining the potential legal consequences for the hacker.
Cracker is an idiot. Ever hear of Tor? Or better yet, post the information on something like Freenet and just advertise it on Freenet somehow and let other people get the information out to the main web.
Of course, the fact that he posted his nick on /b/ when it's usually forced-anon anyway means he basically confessed. Not to mention that he said which proxy service he used -- note to criminals: if you want to get away with something, don't brag about how you did it!
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
So "hacking" now includes password guessing?
End of lesson. You may press the button.
There's no evidence that we know of that this kid was indeed the hacker other than a post on /b/. And accepting a post on /b/ to be reliable information is like... trusting /.'s front page.
I would hope that the punishment would be the same as would be handed out to someone that hacked my hotmail count.
Not that, you know, I have a hotmail account...
"It would be a stretch to charge a felony [in the Palin case], but if they want to be hard on [the hacker], they could do that,"
Let's see. Hacking into the Republican VP candidate's email under the Bush regime. Gosh, what are the odds they will find a judge who will bite on the felony rap? I mean, really, if any words comes to mind when I think of Neocons it must be "forgiving" and "merciful".
The important thing is that prosecution comes. Regardless of the politics involved, if there's no charges then any online email service is essentially useless for private communication. Not to mention the law on such matters doesn't "matter."
Why is Sarah Palin using a private account when she is Governor?
Because there are laws in place that say what you can and cannot do with government services and equipment. What you do not seem to get is she was abiding by these laws. Thats why she has 2 (or more) email accounts. The hacker ought to be prosecuted, he even said he did it with malicious intent
I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be
but guess what? he found squat and diddly.
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
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
They might give the kid a partial immunity deal if he gives up someone in office or the Obama campaign.
It's been reported that his father is an ultra-liberal Democrat in state office - who does have some serious connections with the Obama campaign.
IF (big "if") there is any link to any campaign, then we have almost the exact same thing as Watergate going on here. This would then be the first "-gate" scandal since the original that actually deserves the name.
Can anyone say "what did they know and when did they know it?"
I'm glad to see Wikileaks is back up, along with the Palin article. For a while I thought it was being censored by the thugs in charge.
What a shame the media is focusing on the hacking angle rather than on Palin's inappropriate use of personal communications channels for government business.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Calling this guy a hacker is a wee bit of an overstatement. Here is a video reconstruction of what he did: http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/how-sarah-palin-email-got-hacked Not really a "Hack", just using the password recovery process.
Irongeek's Hacking Videos / Security Videos and Articles
By Palin using yahoo, it's not closely watched and she can conduct official business off the record.
Or you know, she could in fact SEND PERSONAL EMAIL. Are you saying that no government employee should be able to have a personal email account? Then I guess you're OK with AT&T recording phone conversations without a warrant, because if government employees should not be able to have any private life why should you?
The kid even said there were NO incriminating emails in the account (see: Wired story). So get off your high horse and allow for humans to be humans and have something of a life, even if it's one of your dreaded Repuglithuggnaughtterizies.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1) Buy cheap pc using cash (OLPC or similar)
2) Find open wifi network, choose a place far from where you live
3) Connect to TOR and do your dirty deeds
4) Clean finger prints from PC and trash it, far from where you live
OR
1) Goto internet cafe, ensure cafe has no security cameras
2) Pay with cash
3) Connect to TOR and do your dirty deeds
4) Clean finger prints from computer
Profit?
Using this label gives this guy far too much credit.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
You're posting here, using racist codespeak (Bubba?), advocating for the physical and/or sexual abuse of someone who hacked a Yahoo account?
Fucking fascist.
- The Big Lebowski
A number of those emails seem to be very state-businessy looking at who they are all from. And apparently they were using those accounts in order to have the ability to quickly delete any email they wanted rather than be subject to maintaining them for FOIA requests.
It is no longer uncommon to be uncommon.
First off, I don't think this guy was really from "Anonymous" or anyone like that - I think he was just someone who wanted attention.
Quoting from TFA:
As detailed in the postings, the Palin hack didn't require any real skill. Instead, the hacker simply reset Palin's password using her birthdate, ZIP code and information about where she met her spouse -- the security question on her Yahoo account, which was answered (Wasilla High) by a simple Google search.
This proves how fundamentally flawed the "Password Recovery" system, used by many websites, really is. Even if this had happened ot an average Joe guy, all one would have to do to get his security question answer is simply know the guy and his past. The questions are SO GENERIC that anyone could easily guess or find out the answer!
Like the common "Mother's maiden name". All you need to do is Google the target's full name! If the target or anyone remotely related to them ever made a family tree, you'll find the tree - including the target's mother's maiden name.
So if it's THAT EASY for an average guy, doing this for a politician whose ENTIRE LIFE STORY has been told countless times on TV, online, on the news, and on the radio, is as simple as one Google search.
I hope everyone running for President right now learns this, and, when someone becomes America's next President, has the sense to change this issue (cough)Obama(cough).
From the ctunnel website: "Because government subpenoa could require us to hand over our server access logs, access logs are regularly deleted to protect your privacy. " This guy is a dick because he should have deleted his logs right away when he first caught wind of the Palin thing. Instead he waited for the FBI to call him and threaten him not to delete the logs before they got a subpoena. Actually, I always wonder, why keep logs at all?
What was the last law that benefited people but not corporations?
Why is Sarah Palin using a private account when she is Governor?
Because there are laws in place that say what you can and cannot do with government services and equipment. What you do not seem to get is she was abiding by these laws. Thats why she has 2 (or more) email accounts. The hacker ought to be prosecuted, he even said he did it with malicious intent
That's not why she uses personal e-mail accounts for state business.
Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.
If somebody hacked my email would they start a huge investigation or is justice only for the privileged few.
No sig today...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/17/palins_yahoo_account_hacked.html
Among the e-mails released as part of the records request in June were several from Frye asking a state official whether private e-mail accounts and messages sent to BlackBerry devices are immune to subpoena, then reporting the answer to the governor and her husband, Todd, who also uses a Yahoo! mail address.
Asking if Yahoo accounts are subject to subpoena and relaying the answer to the governor suggests to me that the accounts were not simple private email accounts.
As for the hacker, hopefully the Feds will give him a nice long stay in a real PMITA prison with a guy named Bubba.
Your post was great until you said this. People should be punished according to sentences under the law, not subjected to the arbitrary abuse of other prisoners.
Social scientists are inspired by theories; scientists are humbled by facts.
it is NOT her yahoo account anymore. at the moment she used it for correspondence of government affairs, that account has become a public property.
it is not only permissible, but mandatory to make its contents accessible to public.
Read radical news here
What I've seen here is that Palin properly followed the demarcation line between "official business" which is done via official state systems, and "private communications" which may NOT be done via state systems.
Then you've seen only what you've wanted to see. Palin thoughout her time in office has consistently blurred the official with the personal.
For starters, if she wished to keep the line clearly marked, she should have chosen an email handle other than gov.sarah.
Then there's this from the New York Times:
While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a "personal device" like a BlackBerry "would be confidential and not subject to subpoena."
Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account "when there was significant state business."
On Feb. 7, Frank Bailey, a high-level aide, wrote to Ms. Palin's state e-mail address to discuss appointments. Another aide fired back: "Frank, this is not the governor's personal account."
Mr. Bailey responded: "Whoops~!"
Whoops, indeed. I wouldn't consider this a distraction from the issues, especially given the Bush Administration's record. I find it among the scariest aspects of her prospective election.
The Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?pagewanted=all
Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime... -- Machiavelli
Why is Sarah Palin using a private account when she is Governor?
Because there are laws in place that say what you can and cannot do with government services and equipment. What you do not seem to get is she was abiding by these laws. Thats why she has 2 (or more) email accounts. The hacker ought to be prosecuted, he even said he did it with malicious intent
I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be
but guess what? he found squat and diddly.
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
I'm sure I'll get modded down to non-existence for this reply, but I've got tons of karma to burn.
Burn, baby, burn!
You know that the fact that no state business was being conducted through those email accounts means diddly and squat to the haters. They'll just say "well she has other accounts we don't know about, or she deleted them" and despite all the evidence to the contrary, maintain that somehow she's a criminal because she doesn't bow to the lefts' agenda.
Truth doesn't matter to the haters on the left, only their rabid hate and their wish to silence and destroy anyone who dares disagree with them. Laws, rights, and freedoms should only protect *their* guys, because *they're* the "good guys". She's a conservative Republican, which to the haters on the left makes her not-human, so she doesn't get to have rights or enjoy the protections of law and due process. Since she's a conservative Republican, any methods used to injure or destroy the woman and anyone close to her, including handicapped children, are perfectly fine and justified tactics to the haters.
The level of hypocrisy, douche-baggery, outright denial of reality, and visceral hatred by many on the left is beyond the pale. They even hacked Bill O'Reilleys' website and grabbed user registration information and email addresses because he dared have an opinion they don't like about the obtaining and subsequent publishing of the Palin personal emails.
Maybe Obamas' and/or Bidens' personal email accounts should be hacked, if hacking Palins' personal account is ok. I wonder if the haters would be fine with *their* guys' personal emails being published? I'd be willing to lay strong odds that there would be a lot more red meat there than anything found in Palins' emails.
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
I believe this man, who has illegally spied on a member of the government, should face the full and certain penalty that those who illegal spy at the /behest/ of the government should face.
No penalty for this unconscionable breach of privacy is too harsh or severe, no fine too large, no jail term too great. He should face them---
Oh? Really? I guess that does change things, doesn't it.
Yahoo! Pipes are awesome. How awesome? http://pipes.yahoo.com/jesdynf/slashdot
Please have the courtesy of reserving judgement (sic) until such a time all the facts are in
Request denied. Slashdot is not a court of law, and judgments and opinions expressed by its membership are not binding on anyone. As such they may be made and expressed with too few, just the right amount, or too many facts.
I am not a crackpot.
. . . the ACTUAL GUY WHO READ THE EMAILS said there was nothing incriminating.
And if you can't trust the legal opinion of the guy who cracked her account, who can you trust?
I am not a crackpot.
Heh.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
1. Don't post a message anywhere describing what you did
We lowered the bar 8 years ago. She is, frankly, almost as qualified to be President as the current President. About the only differences are that she's governor of a smaller state (but it's closer to Russia), while Bush co-owned a sports team Palin just talked about sports teams, Palin is even MORE of a religious conservative than Bush, and Bush's parents had the political clout to get him through Yale instead of community college.
Of course, we haven't exactly been doing well with the current President....
That should be the message. "Sarah Palin: Even less qualified than George Bush."
paintball
This fellow is what as known as a useful idiot. The Democratic Party benefits from his conduct and he goes to jail for his conduct. No one in the Party will defend him, lest a situation not totally unlike Watergate arise. It would still be political suicide for them to put their money where there mouth is and get him one of those trial lawyers working pro bono or via defense fund.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
Link
Meanwhile, Gabriel Ramuglia, webmaster of Ctunnel, the proxy service used to attack the Yahoo account, has identified the IP user of the perpetrator but he doesn't think it points to Kernell, Computerworld reports.
"Because I'm not in contact with the Internet service provider, I'm not 100% sure of where the IP is based," he said. "But from what I can tell, the IP address doesn't look consistent with the media reports."
The FBI will be able to close the loop, though, with the records of the ISP to which that IP address is assigned. Ramuglia said it is a small, residential ISP.
Now, it's always possible that he compromised someone else's box or drove a long distance away to someone else's computer.
That was either the start of something bad or the end of something stupid.
Logically the two are completely unrelated.
I agree completely. However, I never said she wasn't guilty of some impropriety, nor that being intruded upon is an excuse.
and that the violations uncovered evidence of impropriety on her part
As I understand it, there are laws preventing politicians from using public networks to advance their own political careers, and therefore must conduct their personal political business using their own resources.
So, what makes you so sure that she was conducting official state business with the yahoo account, and not just advancing her own political career?
Social scientists are inspired by theories; scientists are humbled by facts.