About the "Hacking" of Palin's Yahoo Account

[sudopod]

1) It wasn't a hack. Either she had a trivially easy password, like "password" -- a favorite of the computer illiterate -- or they looked up the answers to her security questions on The Google.

2) "Anonymous" isn't an evil Rovian Internets Strike Team, nor are they subversive left-wing e-radicals. They are whoever posts on a series of anonymous-posting image boards. Anonymous is the baleful and terrible id of the internet. Anonymous is a ravenous hive mind, roving about seeking whom he may devour. You can find moar info on Anonymous and his exploits here (Warning -- NSFW):

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Anonymous

Anonymous chooses his targets based on how much pleasure can be wrought by e-harassment. Often, the targets are just pretentous assholes with glittery MySpace accounts or the local Gamestop. Sometimes, however, Anonymous decides to take down someone big, usually because THEY picked the fight. Anonymous is chaotic neutral, and is not generally a reliable internet hero. However, there have been several targets of Anonymous who had it coming. They include:

Hal Turner -- A white supremacist talk show host whose career was essentially ruined by Anonymous.
Turner posted several Anons' home addresses on his website and threatened them with
violence after some posters prank called his lame ass radio show.

Soulja Boy -- More trivially guessed MySpace and YouTube passwords => Lulz

Scientology -- Anonymous viewed Scientology's attempt to censor videos on YouTube as a direct attack
on their domain. The "church" is currently operating in siege mode and is scared
shitless after several months of IRL protests. Moar info here:
http://www.enturbulation.org

Christopher Paul Neil -- Pedophile who used the swirl tool to disguise himself when uploading
pictures of his crimes. Anonymous flipped the images and used the tool
again, revealing his face, lol.
(NSFW) http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Swirl_Face

In conclusion, sit back and enjoy the show. The forces of chaos caused this to fall from the sky, and neither side has broken any rules as this odd spectacle has unfolded.

[Teaser]

1. I can imagine little worse, on the internet...

than getting the attention of Anonymous.

Poor Chin Chan.

[teknomanzer]

2. Palin can't keep her own email secure...

How on earth can she be expected to keep the country secure. She was using the Yahoo account to avoid records retrieval that would be possible if she had used the more secure state network. Looks like her lame attempt bit her in the backside. She's a dolt. In terms of security this is an Epic Fail.

[blue sky at night]

3. Hey that is one interesting post....

I had no idea about this, but I like the idea...kind of like some of the Fiction I have been reading of late, an invincible force. I like the list of who they don't like, very.....interesting. I recommend checking this out DU!

[sudopod]

7. It's funny watching all of the commenters on various fora

trying to name the unnameable.

[Pavulon]

8. People who keep CISCO, RSA, and others

employed. No magic in compromising a system. Even an elegant exploit is still that an exploit. If I steal you car without you noticing or do it by threatening to kill you at gunpoint your car is still gone.

[sudopod]

11. A car analogy.

Are you a /.er by any chance? XD

Also, why are you attacking me? Did you read the first sentence of my OP?

Here, let me quote it for you:

"It wasn't a hack."

[Pavulon]

13. Not attacking you..

not trying to at least.

[sudopod]

20. Sorry! My bad. ^_^

[King Coal]

15. Do you think Yahoo is secure?

[Pavulon]

17. Nothing is secure

some things just take more time and complexity to take apart. Post it notes or a telephone call can defeat the most secure systems in the world.

[sudopod]

18. If you use the ssl encryption

Have a secure password (using symbols, upper and lowercase characters, and numbers)

AND

Don't use security questions that can be answered via a quick Google search, then it is pretty tight. Mind you, I wouldn't do anything serious with it, after all, your emails reside on the servers of an untrustworthy corporate overlord, but for day to day stuff it's alright.

If you're really paranoid, you can encrypt the message using PGP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy.

[King Coal]

22. Pretty tight? I hate to tell you, but..... it ain't. LOL! Sorry.

[PaDUer]

23. you've got mail..n/t

[sudopod]

24. whoops! nt

[morgan2]

4. I read the archive of the thread

it seems someone posted the original password..

Anonymous 09/16/08(Tue)02:08:33 No.85534661

[e-mail]

pw- jun093190

nothing that difficut.. 09319 is a zip code in alaska
probably tacked the last 0 on to reach the minimum password length.

then someone from the board who was a McCain supporter, fairly quickly changed the password, but mistakenly posted an image of him changing it that contained the password. Too many people tried to change it then, resulting in the account being locked for 24 hours by yahoo. It seems the person who originally changed the password is the one who saved the screen captures and pictures. From what I can tell the only one who may have the emails is the original person who posted the password, because there wasn't enough time during the changes for anyone to get that much info from them.

It definitely was accessed, it probably was broken into by someone guessing the password.. the password was also possibly dumped on that list by someone who knew it, and hoping the people on the list would disclose the contents because of their reputation.

[Pavulon]

5. Bullshit..

If it was done to you, you would be pissed. It is a shit thing to do and is not a "hack".

It will have a negative impact in the press as well.

[sudopod]

6. LOL, k. nt

[Pavulon]

9. Guessing a password or a social "hack"

is not a hack. There are lots of things that are hacks and demand skill. Emailing me a picture of my house from a KH-11 is a hell of a hack.

Cracking my gmail password is silly trifling bullshit.

[JDPriestly]

10. Pavulon, I agree with you.

Hacking e-mail accounts is an invasion of privacy, no matter whose account or who hacks.

By the way, if anyone hacks my account, all they will find is information about politics, news and boring stuff which, if you are a Democrat, you probably already get. So, don't bother. I'm not in the generation that pours its soul out or discusses the intimate details of its life in e-mails.

[leftofcool]

12. I would imagine a different tune would be sung if this had been

Obama's private email

[chupacabranation]

14. Anonymous, are you there?

I <3 U.

EOM

[FVZA_Colonel]

21. Anonymous, and the board that spawned them (4chan), are widely regarded

as the asshole of the internet.


Everyone hates them, but they're still glad they're all there, as otherwise they'd be spread around on otherwise relatively normal forums. So perhaps they are the Internet's "grease trap" as well.

[Kazak]

16. So, her email was "hacked" (or unhacked as the case may be), boo hoo!

Any good revelations?

[Pavulon]

19. So if Michelle Obama's

email from a hospital employer is compromised and published that is cool. I mean it is just freedom of information, right?

Bet that email is sitting on a backup tape somewhere, ready to be restored and published.

It is a bad road to go down.