Sarah Palin's Personal Email Compomised By Answering Simple Questions

Posted Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Chris Hogg in Internet 8 comments

When the recent news broke that Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal email was compromised, people everywhere worried about hackers' power in infiltrating a supposedly secure email system. Well, as it turns out, it was a simple Q&A that let down the gates.

According to reports surfacing today, Palin's personal email was breached by simply answering default and very simple security questions.

Most people will recall setting default questions when they signed up for an email address such as entering a zip code, the name of your eldest son, or your city of birth. It seems Palin chose very simple questions: her zip code, date of birth, and where she met her husband.

When you are a public person, getting this info is incredibly easy. Paris Hilton had the exact same problem when someone gained access to her T-Mobile account by guessing the name of her dog.

For Palin, her account was compromised in less than 45 minutes when the infiltrator guessed "Wasilla High School" as the place her and her husband met.

The person or persons who broke into Palin's personal account were clearly doing so without authorization, but it raises bigger questions and possibly red flags for the rest of us. If you are sitting at home protecting a big huge secret in your email inbox, you might want to consider updating your questions to answers nobody will ever guess.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Susan Duclosflagged as abuse - show comment
#1

From Wiki:

In a security context, a hacker is someone involved in computer security/insecurity, specializing in the discovery of exploits in systems (for exploitation or prevention), or in obtaining or preventing unauthorized access to systems through skills, tactics and detailed knowledge.

Isn't it splitting hairs to say breaking into an email account by playing with security questions is not considered hacking?

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Samantha A. Torrenceflagged as abuse - show comment
#2

Thanks for the update Chris, I have to say she was a bit on the simple side for having such easy guessed security answers.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Chris Hoggflagged as abuse - show comment
#3

Show quoted comment from ■ Susan Duclos
@■ Susan Duclos
From Wiki:
Isn't it splitting hairs to say breaking into an email account by playing with security questions is not considered hacking?

Fair enough. Good point Sue. For accuracy's sake I updated the blog headline.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Chris Hoggflagged as abuse - show comment
#4

Show quoted comment from ■ Samantha A. Torrence
@■ Samantha A. Torrence
Thanks for the update Chris, I have to say she was a bit on the simple side for having such easy guessed security answers.

Couldn't agree more there.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Susan Duclosflagged as abuse - show comment
#5

Show quoted comment from ■ Chris Hogg
@■ Chris Hogg
Fair enough. Good point Sue. For accuracy's sake I updated the blog headline.

Thanks for the update Chris. Ok, grocery shopping time. Such a waste of time, but a girl has gotta eat.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ skeptikoolflagged as abuse - show comment
#6

It can be for fun (challenge), mischief or fraud. Safest to consider privacy of the medium, illusory.

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Sep 19, 2008 by ■ Helena Handbasketflagged as abuse - show comment
#7

..... and there's a fraction of the powers for evil portion.

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Jan 16, 2010 by ■ TirsoCflagged as abuse - show comment
#8

FOX network has given Sarah Palin a multiyear deal to appear on the program on regular basis as a news contributor. The thought of Sarah Palin joining FOX News…it makes me want to vomit. None of the cable news networks are watchable, and this violates the 8th Amendment's provision against cruel and unusual punishment. Hannity, Beck, Bill O (or Skeezix, if you will), Ingraham, Von Sustern…they're all intolerable. I'd give payday loans to get that channel off the air.

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