User:FocaL

ThePhantom otherwise known as 'focaL', (pronounced “foecal"), is a security risk, notorious former hacker, and internet entrepreneur.

focaL began producing random exploits 1998 in the genre that has since become known as AOL/IRC underground. His early work mainly focused on documenting, partaking and amusing the participants of the America Online hacking scene.

In 1999, focaL gained notoriety, media coverage, and a hefty restitution bill for defacing web sites such as OnMagazine.com, cows.com, and focal.com. Most noteably the young grey hat hacker, defaced http://cnn.news.com faking his own death in a street racing mishap.

After retiring from the hacking scene, focaL has gone on to make a name for himself in the adult web site industry, which warmly embraced by his AOL spamming friends. focaL's exploits have become an integral part of the adult webmaster community on AOL. In late 1999 focaL also received a writing credit (misspelled as “phocal”), for his contribution to http://www.observers.net a AOL informational site, that has been at the point of many AOL security breaches.

focaL apparently is a firm believer that music should be free. For the past seven years, he has off and on showed this in various ways. From massive webdefacements in his partnership with the 'DeceptiveDuo', to setting up dump and torrent access for free, on MIRC.

In May, 2003, ON Magazine realeased its top 20 AOL/COMPUSERV System Breach list, for the first time since 1998, focaL could not be found on it's top 10 list. Six of the previous articles included,showcases, and explained some of his most infamous work. Including a 10 page article on the Rainman/CRIS exploits of 1999, which every account with 3character email addresses were compromised using an offcampus exploiting method. This method broke lose SecurID internal AOL scams. Since focaL has more-less disappeard from the AOL scene. There have been rumors of his arrival in random AOL underground PRs (Private rooms) to introspective writtings on www.aol-files.com, about the hardships faced daily by AOL users around the globe.