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Phreaking is the subculture of hacking and exploiting telephone networks to make free long-distance calls or gain unauthorized access to other services. The word is a combination of "phone" and "freaking". Though its heyday was before the advent of the internet, phreaking is a foundational component of modern cybersecurity, and many early phreaks became influential computer hackers.

History and techniques

In the 1960s and 70s, phone phreaks explored and manipulated the phone system by understanding the tone-based signaling used by telephone switches. With the introduction of automated phone systems, the human operators who previously monitored phone calls were removed, allowing phreakers to exploit the system.

Modern legacy, though analog phreaking is obsolete, the mindset persists in the digital age. Modern techniques may involve manipulating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems, exploiting weaknesses in cellular networks, or using social engineering to gain unauthorized access.