Well, it looks like the 20 year old David Kernell might be facing some serious charges for what he did, which I see it as harmless from the point of view of a U.S. citizen.
Why? Well, it was Palin’s fault in the first place to let her e-mail account be vulnerable, she should have been smarter to choose a “better” password. Better yet, she should have been using super-encrypted e-mail system, not some public Yahoo e-mail.
What will happen if by chance McCain dies and Palin becomes President?
Yeah, I can foresee Palin accidently clicking on a website with trojans and letting the whole world into U.S. classified information. Maybe this isn’t so serious to most people but I think it’s very serious. If Palin took her current job as Alaskan governor seriously, she would have taken extra 10 seconds to think of a better password not related with her personal information. This is what computer-illiterates do.
I just cannot see Palin coming out of her soccer-mom , I-am-a-computer-dumbass image. Well, that’s my 2 cents on this incident, I DON”T CARE IF YOU DON”T VOTE FOR OBAMA BUT PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR PALIN! JUST DON”T VOTE IF YOU WERE GOING TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN.
(KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE)–David C. Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney James R. Dedrick for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced today. Kernell turned himself into federal authorities for arrest and will be arraigned today before the Honorable C. Clifford Shirley, United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of Tennessee.
The single count indictment, returned on October 7, 2008, and unsealed today, alleges that on approximately September 16, 2008, Kernell, a resident of Knoxville, obtained unauthorized access to Governor Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail account by allegedly resetting the account password. According to the indictment, after answering a series of security questions that allowed him to reset the password and gain access to the e-mail account, Kernell allegedly read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content and other personal information. According to the indictment, Kernell posted screenshots of the e-mails and other personal information to a public website. Kernell also allegedly posted the new e-mail account password, thus providing access to the account by others.
If convicted of the charge, the defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three year term of supervised release. A trial date has not been set.
“Cyber crime is the FBI’s top criminal investigative priority. We would like to thank all of the Internet service providers and others who partnered with us to bring this matter to a quick and successful resolution,” said Richard Lambert, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Knoxville Field Division.
The case is being prosecuted by Section Chief Michael DuBose and Trial Attorney Mark Krotoski of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C. and Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Anchorage and Knoxville Field Offices.
An indictment is merely an allegation. Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law .
3 Responses to Palin’s E-mail Hacker Indicted!
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Max, without getting into the merits of whether one should vote for or not for Palin, I disagree with you on the blaming part. What has been alleged is a serious matter. It is invasion of privacy of an individual with malafide intent. No matter what precautions would have been taken, a determined hacker would have achieved what this man obviously did. Palin is a victim. Leave aside her politics and she deserves her privacy just as you and I do.
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