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 organize 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 favorite 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}.
[glossary]