Experts explained that Sarah Palin could have easily avoided the whole embarrassment related to her email address by making use of some simple security practices.

The hacker gained access to the Republican vice Presidential candidate’s account by resetting the password so it was no work of art. He forced a password reset by answering questions about Palin’s birth date, zip code and where she met her spouse, Wasilla High School. The group that calls itself "Anonymous," announced that it had cracked into Palin's Yahoo account in a message posted on a site that regularly posts confidential documents.

The group posted five screenshots, two digital photos of Mrs Palin's family and an address book to the whistle-blowing Wikileaks website. The hackers also claimed that the information was taken from Ms Palin's gov.palin@yahoo.com e-mail account.

The FBI and the US Secret Service have now begun a formal investigation into the attack and who may have been behind it. The hackers used the CTunnel proxy service. Moreover the screenshots for the attack lead to the original web address used by the proxy which may help investigators track down the hackers.

Though federal law prohibits the unauthorized access of someone's e-mail account, the Department of Justice's interpretation of one particular case might only hold the Palin hackers accountable for accessing unopened messages.

Under DOJ's interpretation, the Palin hackers might only be prosecuted for accessing e-mails the Alaska governor had not yet opened. Based on the data leaked by the hackers, it is not clear if they opened any unread messages.