simple security

War dialing is a technique that uses software to dial hundreds of telephone numbers, hoping to connect to a modem that would act as an entry point into a corporate network.

Back in the old days, modems where kept connected to comupters for communication purposes. Sometimes a cracker (A person who breaks into a computer system without authorization) would find out one of the telephone numbers of a company. Telephone numbers are always alloted in blocks for corporations. Once a cracker found out a number, s/he would then start dialing hundreds of numbers both preceding and following that number in the hope of getting connected to a modem on one of the lines. Once the cracker is connected to a modem, s/he tries various password combinations (or even tries a brute force attack) to get into the network.

These days, almost all of the corporations use hi-speed connectivity (DSL, Cable etc). War dialing has been replaced with war driving attacks. War driving is a technique that uses a wifi enabled laptop or a PDA to sniff wifi networks (preferrably corporate). Even crackers need to keep up with the changing times.