AIM Today Gets Hacked
Source: Internet.com
Users of America Online's instant-messaging program and system were unwittingly connected to profanity and pornography last Saturday, according to an anti-AOL Web site.
AOL Watch said that malicious hackers -- more accurately known as "crackers" -- inserted profane graffiti, X-rated photos and sound files throughout the "Entertainment" section in AIM Today. The AIM Today feature of AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) generally pops up when a user first starts the AIM program, unless the user has disabled the feature.
Links in the Entertainment that usually bring up a list of members available for chat instead displayed pornographic pictures. Also, four separate categories within the Entertainment section were taken over by the malicious hackers, who then went on to post messages in those areas. If an unsuspecting user went to two of those lists, profanity-laced audio messages would automatically play on his or her system. One page even played a song from the rock group Prodigy.
The hack incident itself lasted for more than eight hours before it was removed from AIM Today, according to AOL Watch.
