Michelle Malkin » The story behind the Palin e-mail hacking

The story behind the Palin e-mail hacking

By Michelle Malkin • September 17, 2008 07:31 PM

I mentioned an infamous group of hackers whose Internet bulletin board was the gathering place for those who bragged about and publicized the Sarah Palin private e-mail hacking.

A tech-savvy reader who monitors the hackers’ site e-mailed me a detailed explanation of how it went down, who was responsible, and how someone with a conscience warned a friend of the Palin family of the crime (language warning):

I missed the original incident, but monitored the discussion and repostings afterward to see what I could learn about what had happened and who was responsible.

There are several misconceptions and errors in most accounts of this story, including your post. Most significantly, the perpetrator(s) were not members of an infamous group of hackers. I don’t blame you for misunderstanding this, because in all the media coverage regarding the war with Scientology the media has completely failed to explain what Anonymous is.

Anonymous is not exactly a group. It is people using the umbrella of a web discussion board for cover to be as offensive, funny, strange, or whatever as they want.

Here’s the short version: there is a site called 4chan.org. It is an image posting site based on a popular Japanese site. The site contains multiple boards, each of which is dedicated to a particular subject. The most notorious of these boards is called /b/. /b/ is the board dedicated to random images. /b/tards, as its denizens are called, are interested only in their own amusement. Their sense of humor runs the gamut from sick to cruel to merely strange. Lolcats, as made famous by http://www.icanhascheezburger.com, originated on /b/. A lot of memes start there. There is a lot of racist humor — pictures of excited and happy black people in proximity to fried chicken abound. There is a lot of pornography. Sometimes it’s child pornography, although posting that is moderator grounds for banning — no, it’s not a pedophile ring; /b/tards post it because they think doing so is funny.

4chan does not log participants. Most people don’t use or have usernames, and post instead as “Anonymous.” And every so often, a number of /b/’s anonymous denizens decide to make somebody’s life hell. Sometimes it’s a random person who offends /b/’s sense of propriety. Sometimes it’s a forum dedicated to a serious topic. Sometimes it’s Scientology. And Tuesday, it was Sarah Palin. Or it would have been.

Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked by one person. Not a group.

This person read her emails, then posted the username and password on /b/. This happened at about 4 in the morning on Tuesday. The idea was that the sea of Anonymous /b/tards would download the emails, upload porn, and cause all manner of mischief. Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Anonymous is more like gremlins. They are hyperactive adolescents in search of amusement and joy, which they often get by upsetting people and making messes. That’s what was happening here. Anonymous did not hack the account. A hacker tried to throw Sarah Palin to Anonymous. Not all of Anonymous was having it. One person threw a crowbar in the works. Other /b/tards were displeased to miss a chance at the lulz. The moderators stepped in. The thread was deleted.

Later, other individuals created threads reposting screencaps of emails and the inbox, and put together a collection of these files. All mentions of these were purged by the moderators. So then some bright /b/tards decided to email what little stuff they had to the media.

That’s pretty much it.

This afternoon, in a thread that was later deleted, an individual claiming to be the original poster gave his account of what happened. I’ve attached screencaps. Here’s the text. The original poster used the name “rubico.” The linked email address for the poster was rubico10@yahoo.com.

This is what rubico said:

rubico 09/17/08(Wed)12:57:22 No.85782652

Hello, /b/ as many of you might already know, last night sarah palin’s yahoo was “hacked” and caps were posted on /b/, i am the lurker who did it, and i would like to tell the story.

In the past couple days news had come to light about palin using a yahoo mail account, it was in news stories and such, a thread was started full of newfags trying to do something that would not get this off the ground, for the next 2 hours the acct was locked from password recovery presumably from all this bullshit spamming.

after the password recovery was reenabled, it took seriously 45 mins on wikipedia and google to find the info, Birthday? 15 seconds on wikipedia, zip code? well she had always been from wasilla, and it only has 2 zip codes (thanks online postal service!)

the second was somewhat harder, the question was “where did you meet your spouse?” did some research, and apparently she had eloped with mister palin after college, if youll look on some of the screenshits that I took and other fellow anon have so graciously put on photobucket you will see the google search for “palin eloped” or some such in one of the tabs.

I found out later though more research that they met at high school, so I did variations of that, high, high school, eventually hit on “Wasilla high” I promptly changed the password to popcorn and took a cold shower…

>> rubico 09/17/08(Wed)12:58:04 No.85782727

this is all verifiable if some anal /b/tard wants to think Im a troll, and there isn’t any hard proof to the contrary, but anyone who had followed the thread from the beginning to the 404 will know I probably am not, the picture I posted this topic with is the same one as the original thread.

I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor…. And pictures of her family

I then started a topic on /b/, peeps asked for pics or gtfo and I obliged, then it started to get big

Earlier it was just some prank to me, I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING, I read everything, every little blackberry confirmation… all the pictures, and there was nothing, and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fucked, I panicked, i still wanted the stuff out there but I didn’t know how to rapidshit all that stuff, so I posted the pass on /b/, and then promptly deleted everything, and unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state

Then the white knight fucker came along, and did it in for everyone, I trusted /b/ with that email password, I had gotten done what I could do well, then passed the torch , all to be let down by the douchebaggery, good job /b/, this is why we cant have nice things

The “white knight fucker” was the /b/tard who thought that going through Sarah Palin’s email wasn’t cool. He logged in, changed the password, and sent an email to a friend of Palin’s warning her and letting her know the new password. Unfortunately, he then posted a screenshot of this email to let the other /b/tards know their fun was over. He failed to blank the password, and they all tried to log in and change the password — which tripped the automated Yahoo! freeze. Since then, the account has been deleted. “Rapidshit” refers to rapidshare.com — i.e., rubico wanted to download the emails, put them into one file, and put that file up on rapidshare for /b/tards and the world at large to download. But he panicked, or didn’t know how to download the emails, and so pawned that task off on Anonymous, which he didn’t realize wasn’t monolithic and in his favor.

As Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know…. the rest of the story.”

Posted in: Sarah Palin

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#201

On September 18th, 2008 at 2:11 pm, BernVerdnardo said:

Tricking people on computers is a game to these people. Its mischevious, but I don’t have a problem with it.

But to me, its like the “lipstick on a pig” thing- even if it is forgiveable, the response from the leftist masses is not.

I read an aritcle on the CNN site about this email issue, and browsed the comments. Every single commenter had the same thought: “This proves she must be hiding something”. “What in the world is this woman hiding?!”

The rational of the left: aim all your inner hatred in one direction and disguise it as politics. I can never take a leftist seriously again, and I don’t just mean politics. Half this country is developmentally retarded.

We all need to take responsibility for allowing this sickness to fester, for respecting their hatred as “opinion”. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
#202

On September 18th, 2008 at 2:27 pm, Misscheryl said:

We all need to take responsibility for allowing this sickness to fester, for respecting their hatred as “opinion”. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.

I think this is exactly where we need to be. We have sat back and accepted their hatred as their rightful “opinion” long enough. I am done with letting them take a mile. I will not even engage them in discussions. I don’t care what they think, I don’t care what they believe. That’s how done I am. I don’t cae about their personal opinions on abortion, criminal rights, illegal alien rights and the list goes on. They are destructive to the core and hypocritcal in their thinking. I am just done.
#203

On September 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm, Jet Jaguar said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if Obama fills his Sent-box w/high and noble sounding emails then leaks his password, a la his Western wall prayer…
#204

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm, Plastik said:

If ya hacked Obamas e-mail all you’d see is:

Ayers@weatherunderground.net
re: They bought it!

Ayers@weatherunderground.net
Will they buy another Lie

Ayers@weatherunderground.net
Use the teleprompter

RevWright@HateWhiteAmerica.com
Got The video Pew ready for you!

MichellO@Activist.org
Need that “special” perscription refilled

MichellO@Activist.org
I’ve got a migraine

Stinkybiden@Earmark.com
Sure the hag wouldn’t be a better choice?

Stinkybiden@Earmark.com
I think I screwed up again

Stinkybiden@Earmark.com
I think I screwed up again

Stinkybiden@Earmark.com
I think I screwed up again

AntoninRezko@slumlord.com
They bought the land Walgreens made us rich!

MichellO@Activist.org
L. Sinclair has called and has your “Ride”

Mgobogudi@raffel.free.uk
You have won an internet raffel

JMcCain@americanPatriot.com
re: You need to quit or Ill smear you

All those e-mails in Palins account and no dirt.. AWWWwwww The libs just keep putting their foot in it. She’s a great American and a Good Mom, Wife and Gov. She’ll make a great VP.

Plastik
#205

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm, Ilovemycountry said:

Here’s a good Question:

Palin email hack raises question a lot of people seem to have been ignoring: what is a government official doing conducting sensitive government business on an unsecured private account?

Can any of you explain why she’d do something this dumb?
#206

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:32 pm, ADyer said:

Great explanation Michelle. I think that is the gold standard for describing to the layman what precisely 4chan is and how it relates to this story.

Personally, I would not be sad to see 4chan.org disappear. Whatever its positives may be, they do not come close to counterbalancing the damage done by the /b/tards. 4chan demonstrates what you get when you put 10-20 year old males in an environment free of rules and provide them with near complete anonymity. Civility, rational debate, discretion, even the slightest hint of regard for others: these are all casualties of the mob rule in /b/. Try to stand against the chaos and you will be targeted and eliminated. And I say this despite the fact that I have enjoyed some of the things that have come out of 4chan. I happen to enjoy lolcatz for example. But there is nothing good that comes from 4chan that couldn’t come from some place less objectionable to reasonable human beings. Unfortunately, I just don’t see it going away. The moderators covered their bases by making at least cursory attempts to delete illegal material. I don’t think you can really make any legal case against 4chan since the trouble that originates there is caused by such an ill defined group of members.
#207

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm, flenser said:

Here’s a good Question:

Palin email hack raises question a lot of people seem to have been ignoring: what is a government official doing conducting sensitive government business on an unsecured private account?

Can any of you explain why she’d do something this dumb?

That’s a dumb question. There was no “sensitive government business” on that account. If their had been the leftards would have published it. It was a private email account for communicating with friends and family.

Kindly crawl back under your rock now.
#208

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm, Joy said:

I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor…. And pictures of her family.

“Clerical stuff” In other words, no big deal.

The lunatic left won’t believe this even if it’s straight from the horses mouth. Because they are so perverse they can’t imagine anyone not being the same.
#209

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:19 pm, Flyoverman said:

There was no “sensitive government business” on that account. If their had been the leftards would have published it. It was a private email account for communicating with friends and family.

And conversely if they found after hacking her government account that she had sent a personal message to anyone using her governor’s e-mail the lefty loonies would be screaming “misuse of government property.”

Lost to everyone is through this intrusion we again see is a public official of impeachable integrity. Praiseworthy. I am sure there are e-mails in her account that preceed her nomination by months. Palin is WYSIWYG. It is driving the bottom feeders nuts.
#210

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm, Rob said:

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) suggested that Palin doesn’t have the foreign-policy experience to be president. “‘She doesn’t have any foreign policy credentials,’ Hagel said in an interview. ‘You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don’t know what you can say. You can’t say anything.’”

Check out this other Hagel line: “‘I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, “I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,”‘ he said. ‘That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.’”

And this one: “‘I think it’s a stretch to, in any way, to say that she’s got the experience to be president of the United States,’ Hagel said.”

Why do conservatives do this???
#211

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:29 pm, Wayfaring Stranger said:

Check out this other Hagel line: “‘I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, “I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,”‘ he said. ‘That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.’”

Unfortunately, conservative and intelligent aren’t mutually exclusive terms.

Hagel ought to know better than to rely on the MSM’s reportage of Palin’s answer. Her complete response to Gibson’s question was thoughtful, yet all that got airtime was the throw-away line at the end about being able to see Russia from Alaska.
#212

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:30 pm, conservativesRus said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm, Rob said:
… Why do conservatives do this???

Hagel hasn’t been a model of conservatism over his years.
Maybe an R - but not a conservative
#213

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:31 pm, governmentdrone said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm, Rob said:

Why do conservatives do this???

You’re confusing (R) with Conservative. Chuck Hagel is not now, nor has he ever been more than a RINO.

Chuck Hagel - conservative?

Not on your life.
#214

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm, NJ-Aviator said:

Ilovemycountry said:

Here’s a good Question:

Palin email hack raises question a lot of people seem to have been ignoring: what is a government official doing conducting sensitive government business on an unsecured private account?

Can any of you explain why she’d do something this dumb?

Since this question was duly answer by saying, she was -not- conducting state biz in her email, I would add the following.

People with “work email” addresses will also have a personal email address. The reason is to keep their personal stuff out of their business mail database. In fact, most prudent businesses require that you keep your personal crap off of company email.

So that she has a yahoo account is not surprising and in fact, a smart thing to do.
#215

On September 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pm, bluesoc said:

I’m still suspicious that a reader here would be willing to subject himself to /b/ for any period of time. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, you probably couldn’t imagine how bad it is.
#216

On September 18th, 2008 at 6:16 pm, ex-expat said:

Hacking persoanl information is wrong no matter how its cut. On the other hand, you’d think Governor Palin would have used a more security-robust system for e-mail.
#217

On September 18th, 2008 at 7:48 pm, Mojave Mark said:

Libs don’t have any moral code or standard to live by so why is this a shock?

Not Shocked.
#218

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:06 pm, RetFireman said:

Can someone please tell me the foreign policy credentials the last 4 Democrat Presidents had as pertains to how much international travel they partook prior to going into office as President?

How about just the VP’s then?

And could someone tell me when it became mandatory to be a globe trotting jet-setter in order to become either the President of Vice President?

And finally, could someone please point out the section of the United States Constitution that specifies that it is necessary for a Vice Presidential or a Presidential candidate is required to even HAVE a passport in run for office?

I can’t, for the life of me find any of that anywhere.

Overseas international travel does not include trips to badmouth and protest against this country.
#219

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:09 pm, ignatzk said:

All the chatter about SP’s e-mail account is as distracting as PigLipsGate - it will do nothing to help McCain’s campaign at a time he needs to be more on message.
#220

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:22 pm, revGDright said:

My. This case reminds me somewhat of that odd couple, the Martins, who somehow happened to just accidentally tape one of Newt Gingrich’s cell phone calls for Mr. McDermott…..
#221

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:25 pm, eCurmudgeon said:

“4chan”, huh? I shouldn’t be surprised.

If there is a site (and user community, for that matter) that desperately needs to be nuked from orbit, this is it.
#222

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:39 pm, Republicanvet said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm, Ilovemycountry said:

Here’s a good Question:

Palin email hack raises question a lot of people seem to have been ignoring: what is a government official doing conducting sensitive government business on an unsecured private account?

Can any of you explain why she’d do something this dumb?

Can you please explain why you continue to believe the crap continuously hammered by Azz Press?

Sheesh! It has been admitted by the perp -D that he found NOTHING INCRIMINATING in her account, even though he wanted to.

Is it now your position that any elected official MUST use an official government email system when emailing anyone? including sending personal emails?

I have been reading the AzzPress hit pieces since the brat admitted he found nothing, and not once have they included that fact.
#223

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:46 pm, Jim M. said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm, Ilovemycountry said:
Here’s a good Question:

Palin email hack raises question a lot of people seem to have been ignoring: what is a government official doing conducting sensitive government business on an unsecured private account?

Can any of you explain why she’d do something this dumb?

I am sorry. A question that dumb defies explanation.
#224

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:51 pm, Republicanvet said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm, Joy said:

The lunatic left won’t believe this even if it’s straight from the horses mouth. Because they are so perverse they can’t imagine anyone not being the same.

That’s because the lunatic AzzPress have been so one-sided in their ~~“reporting”~~ smearing on this. Not only do they not report what he admitted, but they continue to claim she was using the account for government business.
#225

On September 18th, 2008 at 9:54 pm, Republicanvet said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm, Rob said:

Why do conservatives do this???

Conservatives? Why do conservatives continue to allow RINO’s like this to serve in the GOP?
#226

On September 18th, 2008 at 10:30 pm, FilmLadd said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm, Rob said:

Why do conservatives do this???

Senator Chuck Hagel is not a conservative, he is a socialist fifth columnist.
#227

On September 18th, 2008 at 10:57 pm, BlameAmericaLast said:

Did anyone consider that she works with government officials that are also her friends? Same thing that goes on in the corporate world? People you work with that you’re also friends with?

What is so hard to understand that a Governor has a private email account that she communicates to co-workers/friends with? What is so incredulous about that?
#228

On September 18th, 2008 at 10:59 pm, ErinF said:

Heads better roll for this extreme Nazi-esque violation.

This is just a sign of things to come under what may be an Obama administration. Nobody’s emails will be safe.
#229

On September 18th, 2008 at 11:23 pm, rlwo2008 said:

Hagel: “I mean, …” He forgot the other adolescent/low-life thug culture words: You know, …”
#230

On September 18th, 2008 at 11:26 pm, BlameAmericaLast said:

On September 18th, 2008 at 10:59 pm, ErinF said:

Nobody’s emails will be safe.

Except his own.
#231

On September 19th, 2008 at 1:17 am, American Elephant said:

Why is it so hard to believe that Sarah Palin is exactly who she presents herself to be?

Because liberals have to lie about who tthey are and what they want to do, because they lie cheat and steal to win, they assume everyone else does too.