Palin e-mail hack details emerge

[babsbunny]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7624809.stm

Details of how an e-mail account of US Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was hacked have emerged.

Following the hack, screenshots of Mrs Palin's messages, inbox, pictures and address book were posted to the Wikileaks whistle-blowing site.

It is thought the attackers exploited the password resetting system of Yahoo's e-mail service.

Details about Mrs Palin's life pulled from public sources reportedly helped defeat security questions.

[Exilednight]

1. Why does she have a Yahoo e-mail account? I mean, seriously ......

shouldn't she have an account with the RNC, McCain campaign, Alaskan Governors office and a whole host of other official websites.

[bigbrother05]

2. The better to hide her maneuvers?

Think Rove, Libby, etc. The gov't doesn't have to provide FOIA for private emails.

[SoxFan]

3. There are reasons for having a private account

As an elected official who uses both a governmental and a private address, I'll try to explain.

Public officials generally have a government email account, but this account is not suitable for a lot of messages. For example, using a governmental account to send campaign-related messages is considered inappropriate. Also, governmental accounts are subject to certain public disclosure requirements. If someone is sending emails with dirty jokes or the results of their visit to the proctologist, they will probably want to keep it out of the public eye.

[Exilednight]

5. Keeping government business on private e-mail account is against the law ........

According to law, all e-mails relating to the official business of government must be archived and not destroyed. However, personal e-mails can be deleted.

The bright side of the whole thing is that it came from a non-Democratic group.

[Phx_Dem]

4. That's exactly what she gets for using her personal

e-mail account for government business. She did it for secrecy, and now the secret is out. Her official e-mail account would have been more secure, but less secretive. Serves her ass right!

[Orsino]

6. "Hackers"? "Attackers"?

Some punks exploited Palin's own ludicrous failures--and Yahoo's minimal security--and got in exactly the way Palin herself would have. That's not hacking, even if performed from behind a proxy.

Social engineering, maybe. Hacking, no.