Sarah Palin email hack raises new security concerns
September 23rd, 2008The volume of personal information on the internet is making the use of personal security questions a far less effective protection method.
Gary Warner, director of computer forensics research at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, outlined new risks which had surfaced in the aftermath of the Sarah Palin email attack.
Warner said in a blog posting that the attack shows just how simple it can be to obtain information to foil the ‘personal information’ questions used by many web services.
The questions are intended to ensure that only the intended user can reset an account password. Users are asked information that a stranger would not know, such as zip code or pet’s name.
As users put more of their lives online through the use of social networking and personal sites, however, more of that once-personal information is becoming publically available.
Warner pointed out that the information used by suspected hacker David Kernell to access the Yahoo mail account of Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was found through a few Google searches.
Authorities have since tracked down Kernell’s surfing history in performing the attack and recently raided his apartment.
Kernell was able to obtain Palin’s zip code and birth date through a search, and figured out where she met her husband through online biographical information.
Those three pieces of information were then used to reset Palin’s password and access her account.
