phreak
/friːk/
noun
- A person who explores or exploits telephone systems, especially in the early days of hacking and computer culture.
- In the 1970s, a phreak could make free long-distance calls using homemade devices.
- The movie showed a young phreak who hacked into the phone company's network.
- Many early computer hackers started out as phreaks, learning how phone systems worked.
verb
- To hack or manipulate a telephone system, especially to make free calls or explore the network.
- They used to phreak payphones with a simple whistle.
- The teenager was caught trying to phreak the local telephone exchange.
- He learned to phreak by studying the tones used by phone companies.
Synonyms