What Does This Mean?
Automatically calling a long list of telephone numbers, often every number in an area code, to find which ones answer with a modem, fax or computer. Hobbyists, attackers and security staff checking their own phone networks have all used it.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The security talk opened with a story about war dialing a whole exchange in the 1980s.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Wikipedia says the name became popular after the 1983 film WarGames, in which the protagonist dials every number in a town to find computers; earlier names included hammer dialing and demon dialing. A War Games Autodialer was advertised for Commodore computers by 1985, and wardriving was later named after it.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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