How Governor Sarah Palin's Email Account Wasn't Hacked

A short while ago vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal yahoo email account was announced in to be "hacked." What many average users don't understand is that "hacking" actually takes some level of skills. There was no skills involved in gaining access to Governor Sarah Palin's personal yahoo email account. All it took to gain entry was to use Yahoo's forgotten password feature and guess the answer to the secret question, "Where did you meet your husband?"

Gov. Sarah Palin's life story is all over the internet, and perhaps without thinking, the vice presidential candidate answered the question honestly. She couldn't have known when she applied the question to her account that someone other then she would want to answer it.

Perhaps Yahoo, and other free email accounts should warn it's users to answer the secret questions with answers only they would know. Doing so would provide a higher level of security and protection.

I've always given friends, and family members the advice of never answering those questions with truthful answers. The reason for this is, if you upset a family member, and your question is "What's your mother's maiden name?" It wouldn't be impossible for them to answer it. Along with those secret questions on just about any free email account is your date of birth. Another tidbit of information anyone who knew you would know. It's past time that these free accounts start to offer some kind of advice to their members to help protect them.

An added feature some accounts have like Gmail, and even Yahoo is the ability to add a secondary email address in which your password will be sent. This help avoids the potentional embarrassment of losing something very private, and personal.

So when you sign up for anything, even a blockbuster online account, it too asks for a secret question, answer it with something totally unrelated, and if you want to add another level of security mix it up with numbers. So even if your soon be abuser knows half your information, they will not know the other half. Be sure to pass this tip to your friends and family, after all if it can happen to a vice presidential candidate, it can truly happen to anyone. You don't have to be famous to be attacked; you just have to upset the wrong person at the wrong time. I personally hope that since Sarah Palin's plight it will serve to educate others. Sometimes it takes someone in high standings to have these things happen to them, to have others realize they too are at risk.

So to correct the news wrongfully released, Governor Sarah Palin's email account wasn't hacked. If hacking was that easy, everyone who tried to access their account by password reset would be considered a hacker, even YOU.