An alert user forwarded this screen shot of AOL's "The Hub," taken March 31, 1997, afternoon shortly before 6 p.m. EST.

The image shows the epithet scrawled by a user after they bypassed AOL's security and gained access to the Title bar on the Hub's main screen. Upon noticing the security breach, AOL removed user access to the area while working behind the scenes to corre ct the problem.

This is not the first time AOL content areas have been hacked. In November, C|Net reported that hackers had vandalized AOL's "CourtTV" area, adding their own pop-up screen with cryptic messages . This time they added a racial epithet.

For more information on this incident--and a humorous story about the webmaster of aolsucks.org -- click here.