FBI searches apartment in Palin hacking case
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-searches-apartment-in-palin-hacking-case-939810.html By Lara Jakes Jordan and AP Tuesday, 23 September 2008 The FBI searched the residence of the son of a Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee over the weekend looking for evidence linking the young man to the hacking of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal email account, says two law enforcement officials. David Kernell, 20, has not returned repeated phone calls or emails from since last week. He is the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell. The father declined last week to discuss the possibility his son might be involved in the case. "I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything," Mike Kernell said. "I was not a party to anything of this nature at all," he said. "I wasn't in on this - and I wouldn't know how to do anything like that." No one answered the door at Mike Kernell's home in Memphis yesterday, and he did not return repeated phone calls. The apartment the FBI searched is in a complex about five blocks from the University of Tennessee campus in a neighbourhood popular with students. No one around the complex knew David Kernell, who is a student at the university, or saw the FBI agents over the weekend. A hacker last week broke into one of the Yahoo email accounts that Palin uses, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. The McCain campaign confirmed the break-in and called it a "shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law." Palin used "gov.sarah" in one of her Yahoo email addresses she sometimes uses to conduct state business. The hacker targeted her separate "gov.palin" account. During the break-in, the hacker used an internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville. The FBI obtained logs Saturday establishing the connection from Gabriel Ramuglia of Athens, Georgia, who operates an internet anonymity service used by the hacker. Ramuglia said the FBI asked him to confirm that the address appeared in his records, and it did. Ramuglia said his logs showed the hacker visiting Yahoo's mail service, resetting Palin's password and announcing results of the break-in on a website where the hacking was first disclosed. "I think he just didn't realise the severity of what he was doing until afterwards," Ramuglia said. After the break-in, a person claiming responsibility published a detailed chronology of the hacking on the same website. That person identified his email address as one that has been linked publicly to David Kernell. After the break-in, a person claiming responsibility published a detailed chronology of the hacking on the website where the break-in was first revealed. That person identified his email address as one that has been linked publicly to David Kernell. Mike Kernell, 56, is known for his liberal stance on state issues in the Legislature, and he has a straight-laced reputation among his colleagues. State Rep. John Deberry, another Democrat, described Kernell as the "quintessential Boy Scout" who always follows the rules. "When I saw his reaction when he first heard about it, the absolute fear and shock that was on his face, I realised then he had absolutely nothing to do with it," Deberry said of his colleague. Experts said the hacker apparently left an easy trail for investigators. "He might as well have taken a picture of his house and uploaded it," said Ken Pfeil, an internet security expert. "He should have just set up a big beacon that said, 'Here's my house,' or confessed. If they can't catch this guy based on all the information posted on the web then all bets are off." The hacker described guessing correctly that Alaska's governor had met her husband in high school, and knew Palin's date of birth and home postal code. Using those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo's service into assigning a new password, "popcorn," for Palin's email account. What started as a prank was cut short because of panic over the possibility the FBI might investigate, the hacker wrote. The FBI and Secret Service are now investigating. The law enforcement officials confirming the search spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. In Washington, Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney confirmed Monday only that the FBI conducted "investigative activity" late Saturday and early Sunday in Knoxville related to the case. 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