war-dial

English

Etymology

Reference to the 1983 movie WarGames, which featured the practice. By surface analysis, war- +‎ dial.

Verb

war-dial (third-person singular simple present war-dials, present participle war-dialing or war-dialling, simple past and past participle war-dialed or war-dialled)

1. To have a computer dial a large number of phone numbers in search of devices for exploitation, such as modems or fax machines.
2. To engage in a similar activity in another address space, such as IP addresses.

Related terms

• war-drive