/dump' -ster di:' -ving/ 1. The practice of sifting refuse from an office or technical installation to extract confidential data, especially security-compromising information ("dumpster" is an Americanism for what is elsewhere called a "skip"). Back in AT&T' s monopoly days, before paper shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks (see ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=phreaking">phreaking) used to organise regular dumpster runs against phone company plants and offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT&T internal manuals taught them much. The technique is still rumored to be a favourite of crackers operating against careless targets. 2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker' s den. Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of moldering (but still potentially useful) cruft. [ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Jargon File">Jargon File]
