"Bow down or be shot down."
That greeting appeared in place of the phrase "Welcome to the Hardware Forum" in AOL's PC Hardware area. On Sunday, October 26, security fell to an on-line vandal, who replaced AOL's text with comments of their own.
At least 13 separate fields of text were altered.
PC Hardware Resource Center Hit yourself with this hammer Hardware Reference Guide TOS Advisor (fatass) naked Hardware Product News Click to see KiDd's mother naked
Content has been changed in at least 24 AOL areas in the last seven months. On October 11, seven areas fell in one night -- Steve Case's community update, AOL Live, Reebok, Lifestyles & Interests Channel, OnQ, ABC's KidZine, and AOL's Jewish Community Online area. But it's just the latest in a long string of attacks that include the New York Times, Spin magazine, and even AOL's own Digital Cities area.
Additional attackers snuck profanity into AOL's on-line dictionaries.
AOL's inability to keep even their own screens safe from on-line vandals raises questions about their security. Currently AOL holds credit card information for approximately 9 million consumers, nationwide.
Click on this image to see the screen after it was repaired.
Other Recent Hacks
The Hub (3/31/97) GameWiz (4/4/97) GameWiz (Again!) (4/25/97) FTP sites of several AOL employees (4/26/97 through 4/28/97) The New York Times (4/29/97) AOL Glossary (5/9/97 through 5/23/97) Stats Store (5/17/97 through 5/19/97) Thrive (6/12/97 through 6/13/97) Kids Kicks (6/19/97 through....) Fantasy Realm 6/23/97 through....) Academic Assistance Center 6/29/97) Spin magazine (8/10/97) Digital Cities San Diego (8/16/97) Business Week (9/18/97) MoneyWhiz (9/27/97) Geraldo Rivera (10/3/97 through 10/4/97) Jewish Community (10/11) ABC KidZine (10/11) Steve Case's Update (10/11) OnQ / GLCF (10/11) Lifestyles channel (10/11) Reebok (10/11) AOL Live (10/11) PC Hardware forum (10/26)
In addition, hackers hit AOL's Court TV area last November.
