What is a Phreaking ?

A phreak is someone who breaks into the telephone network illegally, typically to make free long-distance phone calls or to tap phone lines.

The term is now sometimes used to include anyone who breaks or tries to break the security of any network.

Recently, the phone companies have introduced new security safeguards, making phreaking more difficult.

Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks.

The term phreak is a sensational spelling of the word freak with the ph- from phone, and may also refer to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system.

Phreak, phreaker, or phone phreak are names used for and by individuals who participate in phreaking.

The term first referred to groups who had reverse engineered the system of tones used to route long-distance calls.

By re-creating these tones, phreaks could switch calls from the phone handset, allowing free calls to be made around the world.

To ease the creation of these tones, electronic tone generators known as blue boxes became a staple of the phreaker community, including future Apple Inc.

cofounders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
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