/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 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.
