On June 12, hackers decided to alter the content in AOL's "Thrive" area...

Eighteen hours later, their handiwork was still on-line -- a signed message naming 24 hackers. They also added surly profanities into text promoting chats about "Kids' Health & Development" and "Pregnancy & Childbirth".

Tallying the breaches, the total comes to at least seven -- since April -- and at least eight since November. Click on the links below for screen-shots and information about hacks on the following AOL content areas:

Thrive
Stats Store
The New York Times
The Hub
GameWiz (Twice!)
AOL Glossary
the FTP sites of several AOL employees

Court TV (in November)
The attack on the children-related site may be a subtle message to AOL about sexual battery charges filed against AOL lawyer Andrew Singer the week before. On June 6 the Washington Post reported that the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office had investigated charges involving an 11-year-old boy. The Sheriff's Office told another reporter that they had entered AOL's headquarters in Dulles, Virginia to make the arrest; after the incident, the AOL attorney had apparently returned to work for several days after the incident.

Although the hackers could be responding to AOL's reputation as a haven for pedophiles. When they altered AOL's New York Times area, one of the options they placed below the icons was "Kiddie porn click here."

aol://4344:1209.chathost.9706892.537062691 was the AOL URL for the affected area. It could also be reached through Keyword "Thrive," under the "Health" section's "Kids' Health and Development" area -- the link titled "Chat About It!"
Deep in AOL's Thrive area, hackers hid a message. Like astronauts leaving their names on the moon or grafitti artists signing their city, AOL's vandals wanted the high-paid security consultants to know: you couldn't keep us out. No matter how many time s AOL claimed to be "the most-protected environment on the internet" -- they couldn't keep the hackers out. [Red arrow indicates the area where the hackers left their mark.]