[7] Along with the release of articles such as "Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit" and the editorship of daemon9/route in 1996, Phrack's orientation shifted toward computer security and its focus drew closer to the current definition of hacking.

The 24th issue of Phrack, released February 1989, included a document relating to the workings of Enhanced 911 emergency response systems.

[9] It had been copied from a BellSouth computer and played a major part in a series of Secret Service raids called Operation Sundevil and featured in Bruce Sterling's book The Hacker Crackdown.

Phrack's editor, Knight Lightning, was arrested and charged with access device fraud and transportation of stolen property.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief supporting Knight Lightning, and helped to get the case dropped[10][11] by introducing a witness who showed that Bellcore was selling more detailed documentation to the E911 system for as little as $13 to anyone who asked.

To commemorate Phrack's final appearance, the issue was to be a hardback edition, released simultaneously at the DEF CON and What the Hack conventions on July 29.

The European printer for the hardcopies of Phrack to be distributed at Defcon refused to fulfil the order once they realized that they were printing a hacking book.

Two University of Arizona students filled the gap and printed between 100 and 200 copies of Phrack 63 in time for release at Defcon 13.

[16] Phrack is especially popular due to the general high standard of the releases compared to other underground zines, but has made its reputation from a number of high-quality articles.