war dialer

n. [originally from wargames dialer , a reference to the movie War Games ] A
cracking tool, a program that calls a given list or range of phone numbers
and records those which answer with handshake tones (and so might be entry
points to computer or telecommunications systems). Some of these programs
have become quite sophisticated, and can now detect modem, fax, or PBX tones
and log each one separately. The war dialer is one of the most important
tools in the phreaker 's kit. These programs evolved from early demon dialer
s.

