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was only limited by how fast messages could be forwarded, with AOL paying for all the cost of the bandwidth. One additional limitation included an allotted number of email messages which could be sent per day by a particular user account. Botters were able to circumvent this limitation by signing up for a white-list account which was subjected to an unknown probationary period where AOL administrators monitored the account.
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One-click based piece of software called Fake Maker written by a user known as McDawgg within the AOL Macwarez community. This software ran in parallel with the AOL program to create fake accounts based upon generated legitimate credit card account numbers. This software ultimately released three
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software) contained in their mailbox. Simply messaging the bot with the titles of the desired software packaging would result in those packages being forwarded to one's mailbox. Since the data merely had to be copied into another user's mailbox (while still residing on an AOL server), the piracy
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numbers. The account would not be disabled until AOL first billed it (and discovered that the credit card was invalid). The generator could also generate fake addresses and phone numbers, resembling on their surface legitimate personal information. One example of a fake account generator was a
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AOL constantly closed the "Hackers" Member room, but refuses to do anything about all the pedophilia rooms. I once IMed TOSAdvisor and asked him why he closes the Hacker room, but does not close the kiddie porn rooms. He did not reply, instead he cancelled my account. I guess we see where AOL's
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to create a toolkit that provided: a new DLL for the AOL client, a credit card number generator, email bomber, IM bomber, Punter, and a basic set of instructions. It was billed as, "An all-in-one nice convenient way to break federal fraud law, violate interstate trade regulations, and rack up a
283:. Though most of these utilities simply manipulated the AOL interface, some were powerful enough to let almost any curious party anonymously cause havoc on AOL. The first version of the program was released in 1994 by hackers known as Da Chronic, The Rizzer, and The Squirrel.
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using simple tools written by others, with little understanding of what they are doing. These types of programs had a tendency to have AOL accounts banned; and so most users were logged on to accounts they had acquired illicitly, either by
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In the manual, the creator of AOHell claims that he created the program because the AOL administrators would frequently shut down hacker and warez chatrooms for violation of AOL's terms of service while refusing to shut down the
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AOHell was the first of what would become thousands of programs designed for hackers created for use with AOL. In 1994, seventeen year old hacker
Koceilah Rekouche, from Pittsburgh, PA, known online as "Da Chronic", used
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Most notably, the program included a function for stealing the passwords of
America Online users and, according to its creator, contains the first recorded mention of the term "
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Hi, this is AOL Customer
Service. We're running a security check and need to verify your account. Please enter your username and password to continue.
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The existence of software like AOHell provided a parallel 'lite' version of the hacker underground that had existed for years before, based around
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20,000+ idiots using AOHell to knock people offline, steal passwords and credit card information, and to basically annoy the hell out of everyone.
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which would generate a new, fully functional AOL account for the user that lasted for about a month. This generator worked by exploiting the
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323:. The program included a "fisher" tool in 1995 that enabled hackers to steal passwords and credit card information through automated
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versions and helped to create thousands of fake accounts before AOL weakened its ability through more expedient account verification.
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couple of good ol' telecommunications infractions in one fell swoop". When the program was loaded, it would play a short clip from
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Da
Chronic, whose expressed motivation was anger that child abuse took place on AOL without being curtailed by AOL administrators.
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with names such as 'AirZeraw', mm, cerver, 'wArEzXXX', g00dz, 'punter', 'gif', 'coldice', 'GRiP', and 'trade', AOHell created
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462:. "Da Chronic" claimed that when he confronted AOL's TOSAdvisor about it, he was met with an account deletion:
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upon identification of keywords. (For example, a 'profane language' autoresponse was built into the program.)
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The existence of AOHell and similar software even allowed AOL to develop its own
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script which would rapidly send e-mails to a user's inbox until it was full.
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425:, often referred to as 'servers', which would send out a list of warez (
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The program was last compatible with AOL version 2.5.
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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728:Interview with Da Chronic, the creator of AOHell
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304:to dynamically generate apparently legitimate
576:Rekouche, Koceilah (2011). "Early Phishing".
396:, which allowed users to pose as AOL founder
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300:used by credit card companies known as the
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550:"Illegal program troubles America Online"
246:. It was created by a teenager under the
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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685:Wallace Wang (2003-01-01). "AOHell".
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597:Langberg, Mike (September 8, 1995).
47:adding citations to reliable sources
16:Windows application for AOL cracking
529:Stonebraker, Steve (January 2022).
496:Garfinkel, Simson L. (1995-07-01).
471:He also stated that his goal was:
458:chat rooms which regularly traded
359:that would flood a chat room with
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618:"Flashback to 1995: AOL Proggies"
548:Garfinkel, Simson (1995-04-21).
363:of an offensive nature, such as
157:Da Chronic, Rizzer, The Squirrel
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374:, which did not really contain
34:needs additional citations for
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450:or a fake account generator.
441:', a user who performs basic
616:Armnet, Marco (2014-04-19).
599:"AOL Acts to Thwart Hackers"
372:artificial intelligence bot'
743:Hacking (computer security)
238:' (computer hacking) using
234:that was used to simplify '
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689:Steal This Computer Book 3
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376:artificial intelligence
723:Manual for AOHell v3.0
638:"AOHell Documentation"
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435:bulletin board systems
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294:fake account generator
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603:San Jose Mercury News
537:(Podcast). Anchor.fm.
139:of AOHell, depicting
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270:Nuthin but a G Thang
43:improve this article
663:Simson L. Garfinkel
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535:aolunderground.com
405:Motives and legacy
325:social engineering
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531:"AOL Underground"
460:child pornography
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99:November 2008
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54:Find sources:
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32:This article
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642:. Retrieved
640:. Da Chronic
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621:. Retrieved
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367:or a toilet.
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261:Visual Basic
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220:script kiddy
202:Available in
153:Developer(s)
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
413:community.
306:credit card
232:application
737:Categories
697:. p.
644:2016-01-31
623:2016-01-31
562:2022-05-31
515:2019-11-01
483:References
456:pedophilia
419:chat rooms
417:in secret
398:Steve Case
387:IM manager
365:the finger
141:Steve Case
69:newspapers
583:1106.4692
510:1059-1028
361:ASCII art
350:mail bomb
311:Macintosh
298:algorithm
248:pseudonym
667:"AOHell"
498:"AOHell"
448:phishing
443:cracking
380:chatroom
343:-bomber)
339:punter (
319:Phishing
287:Features
281:software
277:phishing
244:phishing
236:cracking
58:"AOHell"
415:Lurking
266:Dr. Dre
254:History
216:hacking
205:English
196:Windows
83:scholar
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228:AOHell
122:AOHell
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578:arXiv
553:(PDF)
502:Wired
411:warez
321:tools
90:JSTOR
76:books
703:ISBN
679:scan
506:ISSN
423:bots
370:An '
211:Type
165:1994
145:Hell
135:The
62:news
699:297
385:An
272:".
240:AOL
143:in
45:by
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392:A
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341:IM
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
