Student indicted for Palin e-mail hack
![ryan-naraine.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/58705b1ab848cb0209d7d7d504dffaab176d93aa/2014/07/22/4b4e2273-1175-11e4-9732-00505685119a/ryan-naraine.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
![Student indicted for Palin e-mail hack](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/04/55278888-4b64-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/davidkernell.jpg)
David Kernell (left), who was identified for a while as the alleged hacker, is expected to be arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley.
From the announcement:
The single count indictment, returned on Oct. 7, 2008, and unsealed today, alleges that on approximately Sept. 16, 2008, Kernell, a resident of Knoxville, obtained unauthorized access to Gov. Palin’s personal e-mail account by allegedly resetting the account password. According to the indictment, after answering a series of security questions that allowed him to reset the password and gain access to the e-mail account, Kernell allegedly read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content and other personal information. According to the indictment, Kernell posted screenshots of the e-mails and other personal information to a public Web site. Kernell also allegedly posted the new e-mail account password that he had created, thus providing access to the account by others.
[ SEE: Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account hijacked, e-mails posted online ]
Kernell faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release.
* Photo credit: LA Times.