Web graffiti artists have welcomed Kevin Mitnick's return online in traditional hax0r-style - by defacing his company's Web site.

Defensive Thinking's Web site was defaced by hacker BugBear with a picture of three polar bears along with a message poking gentle fun at Mitnick.

The message (http://www.zone-h.org/defaced/2003/01/30/www.defensivethinking.com/hacked.html) (archived for posterity by Zone-H, along with its take (http://www.zone-h.org/en/news/read/id=2230) on the Web graffiti) says:

welcome back to freedom mr.kevin ;)

BugBear is trying to tell u have forget to secure your box, it was fun and easy to break into your box ;).

Defensive Thinking issued a statement (http://www.defensivethinking.com/press/defthi-hacked.htm) yesterday making clear that no sensitive systems were affected by the defacement.

"The compromised computer is a public system on a network separate from production systems at Defensive Thinking. No customer information was released nor was in danger of being compromised," it states.

The company tries to spin the attack by suggesting that since its site is such a high profile target it has a better understanding of hacker behaviour.

According to the San Jose Mercury News (http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5153941.htm), it's not the first time the site has been defaced. Defensive Thinking says its systems have now been patched.

Mitnick, whose probation order prevented him using the Internet legally until late last month, seems unflustered by the latest attack on his company.

"I suppose if you were a young hacker and wanted to prove your skills, this is the place to go. It reminds me of the movie 'The Gunfighter.'" he said.

(We think Kevin mean's this 1950 Gregory Peck film (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0042531), which best fits his description).

Mitnick, who describes the defacement as "quite amusing", has no intention of reporting the matter to the FBI... ®

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