Details are emerging about the hacking of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail account.

The Web site where the hacking was first revealed has published a chronology of the crime. It said the hacker knew the Alaska governor's birth date and ZIP code and guessed that she had met her husband in high school. With those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo's e-mail service into assigning a new password for Palin's e-mail account.

The FBI and the Secret Service launched a formal investigation into the incident Wednesday. Yahoo has declined to comment on details of the probe, citing Palin's privacy and the sensitivity of such investigations.

The person who's claiming responsibility did not respond to an e-mail inquiry from The Associated Press Thursday. In the account of the hacking that circulated on the Internet, the person said it started as a prank but was cut short in a panic over a possible FBI investigation.

On Wednesday, news broke that a hacker broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since Sen. John McCain selected her as his running mate.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis issued the following statement concerning reports about Palin's e-mail: "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago -- prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate -- after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.

Gawker.com posted family photos and alleged e-mail exchanges the Alaska governor had with colleagues. Gawker claims the e-mail account has since been shut down, but it will leave the images up on its site for all to see.

On its site Gawker offers up screenshots of the e-mails and says "they were saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It's newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!"

One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.

Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.

Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in her e-mail address, and her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.