Did hackers hit AOL's Gay and Lesbian Forum, "On Q", too?Apparently. October 11, its title bar said "GLAZE & HEX hacked US."
As part of an elaborate 7-part attack, content was changed on the forum's welcome screen. Other areas altered the same night included Steve Case's Community Update, ABC's children's area, and AOL's Lifestyles & Interests channel. Though AOL earns more than two billion dollars a year, for one night the power to create the material displayed on their system slipped into the hands of vandals.
Steve Case talks about AOL's community-building. But imagine the shock of gay and lesbian subscribers when they entered Gay and Lesbian Community Forum and received a mixed message from the front page. Across from text reading '"Wear it with pride," the vandals added "Gays suck," adding "& lesbians."
Outside forces invading AOL are nothing new. Over 22 content areas have lost control of the text that appears on their screen since the spate of attacks since March 31. It's also an ongoing problem. AOL's Court TV area was attacked in a similar manner last November.
But except for coverage of an attack on the New York Times AOL area (by the New York Times), very little attention has been focussed on the problem. Has AOL successfully covered up the ongoing breaches--or have reporters failed to recognize the pattern in order to report it to the 9 million affected subscribers?
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....) 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)
In addition, hackers hit AOL's Court TV area last November.
