Hack into telecommunications systems, especially to obtain free calls.
‘a few old-time hackers still phreak casually just to keep their hand in’
‘prosecutors say he engaged in the practice of phreaking’
‘Hands-free phones, phreaking - hacking into phone systems for free calls - and fuzzy logic are all new inclusions.’
‘This article about three blind brothers in Israel who are crazy good at computers and phone phreaking (like hacking, but with phones) is totally and utterly amazing.’
‘This capability, known in the civil community as hacking, phreaking, and other terms for arcane computer skills, also poses cultural problems for the US military.’
‘Around the same time, changes in the phone network made old-style technical ingenuity less effective as a way of hacking it, so phreaking came to depend more on overtly criminal acts such as stealing phone-card numbers.’
‘Alternatively phreaking may be used to obtain free net access in European countries.’
‘This was the era of phone phreaking: black boxes, blue boxes, Captain Crunch whistles.’
‘It's great to finally hear someone talk about phone phreaking and other attempts to subvert American Idol voting.’
‘If you think phone phreaking was bad, just wait until anyone can do it.’
‘The process - known as phone phreaking - involves electronic manipulating phone systems, normally by sending additional control codes down phone lines.’
‘Authors Peter Warren and Michael Streeter use the 260 page book to put different aspects of cyber crime - ranging from the genesis of offences such as phone phreaking to the rise of botnets - under the microscope.’
‘My first encounter with what I would eventually learn to call social engineering came about during my high school years, when I met another student who was caught up in a hobby called phone phreaking.’
‘It was some kind of combination of instant messaging, phone phreaking, and Wi-Fi with a distinctly modern flavor to it.’
‘The authorities followed leads which directed them to investigate a Spanish hacking and phone phreaking gang named ‘AKELARRE’.’
‘Okay, so the US government does have me down as the author of a hacking/phreaking journal.’
noun
informal
A person who hacks into telecommunications systems, especially to obtain free calls.
‘the nation's most clever cellular phone phreaks’
Origin
1970s alteration of freak (perhaps punning on free call), with the change from f- to ph- apparently by association with phone.
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