Palin hacker in the dock
Monday, October 13, 2008
David Kernell could face up to five years in prison following charges of having committed identity theft against Sarah Palin, Republican vice-presidential candidate, it has been reported.
According to vnunet.com, Kernell - son of Democratic state legislator Mike Kernell - hacked Ms Palin's Yahoo! account and made modifications.
Details retrieved from within the account's email inbox were also posted online by the hacker, acting under the name rubico.
However, vnunet.com reports that the attack had a number of amateurish elements.
These included forum posts which allowed the attacker to be traced, while his screenshots from within Ms Palin's account included details of his internet service provider.
In an earlier report, the website claimed that identity theft and fraud is becoming easier due to the wealth of personal information stored on social networking sites.
Attackers - such as Kernell - are able to retrieve such details in order to correctly answer security questions used to reset passwords and access accounts, vnunet.com claimed.
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