September 22, 2008 4:50 PM
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FBI Targets College Student In Palin Email Hack
The FBI has a suspect in its investigation into who broke into GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account.
His name is David Kernell, and he's a 20-year-old University of Tennessee student and the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell
CNET reports that the FBI searched Kernell's apartment over the weekend, and local media reports suggest that three of his roommates could testify before a grand jury in connection to the case this week.
The person who got into Palin's email account did so by entering her personal information in order to reset her password; aside from easily accessible information like Palin's birthday and ZIP code, he or she had to correctly answer the question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" The correct response, as deduced by the person who infiltrated Palin's email: "Wasilla High."
Last week, Mike Kernell, the father of the apparent suspect, told the Associated Press, "I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything."
The AP reports that "During the break-in, the hacker used an Internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville." Experts told the news service that the person who broke into Palin's email left an easy trail to follow.
Palin reportedly sometimes used a Yahoo! account to conduct state business, though the only relatively insignificant personal information from a separate account was made public as a result of the email break-in.
His name is David Kernell, and he's a 20-year-old University of Tennessee student and the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell
CNET reports that the FBI searched Kernell's apartment over the weekend, and local media reports suggest that three of his roommates could testify before a grand jury in connection to the case this week.
The person who got into Palin's email account did so by entering her personal information in order to reset her password; aside from easily accessible information like Palin's birthday and ZIP code, he or she had to correctly answer the question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" The correct response, as deduced by the person who infiltrated Palin's email: "Wasilla High."
Last week, Mike Kernell, the father of the apparent suspect, told the Associated Press, "I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything."
The AP reports that "During the break-in, the hacker used an Internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville." Experts told the news service that the person who broke into Palin's email left an easy trail to follow.
Palin reportedly sometimes used a Yahoo! account to conduct state business, though the only relatively insignificant personal information from a separate account was made public as a result of the email break-in.
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Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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