This Is The Guy That Let Us Read Sarah Palin's Email

So this is the kid hacked her account.

From Wired:

A grand jury ended its session this morning without indicting University of Tennessee student David Kernell, who is suspected of hacking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private e-mail account, an area newspaper is reporting.

The Chattanooga Free Press doesn't offer a lot of details other than to say that Kernell's three roommates appeared before the grand jury this morning and that the session ended without an indictment. The grand jury will likely meet again to hear more evidence in the investigation.

Kernell, 20, has been meeting with a lawyer in Knoxville, Tennessee. Attorney Wade V. Davies released the following statement to the media on Monday:

"I have been asked by the Kernell family to represent their son, David. This is a difficult time for David and his family. The Kernell family wants to do the right thing, and they want what is best for their son. We are confident that the truth will emerge as we go through the process. David is a decent and intelligent young man, and I look forward to assisting him during this difficult period."

David Kernell and his father, Democratic state representative Mike Kernell, met with Davies for dinner on Friday evening in Knoxville, according to a Memphis blogger and friend of the family named Sharon Cobb. The elder Kernell drove from his home in Memphis to Knoxville that day and has been staying with his son in a hotel since FBI agents visited David Kernell's apartment over the weekend to photograph it.

Yes They Are

Just in case you were wondering if the Chinese were hacking the Pentagon:

"First, you must know about the Web site you want to attack. You must know what program it is written with," says Xiao Chen. "There is a saying, 'Know about both yourself and the enemy, and you will be invincible.'"

CNN decided to withhold the address of these hackers' Web site, but Xiao Chen says it has been operating for more than three years, with 10,000 registered users. The site offers tools, articles, news and flash tutorials about hacking.

...But eventually Xiao Chen claims two of his colleagues -- not the ones with him in the room -- have hacked into the Pentagon and downloaded information, although he wouldn't specify what was gleaned. CNN has no way to confirm if his claim is true.

...But if Xiao Chen is telling the truth, it appears his colleagues launched a freelance attack -- not initiated by Beijing, but paid for after the fact. "These hacker groups in my opinion are not agents of the Chinese state," says James Mulvenon from the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, which works with the U.S. intelligence community.

"They are sort of useful idiots for the Beijing regime."

Now that that it looks like L. Ron Paultard will be dropping out of the presidential race, maybe we could employ our own useful idiots, Paultards, and reciprocate some lead-based hacking right back at the Chinese.


via CNN