A Study of Security Vulnerability by Cloning 2G(GSM) SIM Card in China

중국 2G(GSM) SIM카드 복제로 인한 보안 취약성 연구

  • 김완수 (세명대학교 전산정보학과) ;
  • 김식 (세명대학교 정보통신학부)
  • Published : 2010.06.25

Abstract

China first started its mobile phone services in 1987, and the number of users has exponentially increased so that it reached 700 millions in January 2009. Currently China's 2G(GSM) users is 650 millions. These 2G (GSM) services have an advantage of the capability to use the mobile phone with a SIM (Subscriber Identity Modul) card, one kind of smart cards, inserted into it. However, due to the security vulnerability of SIM cards being used within China's 2G (GSM) services, SIM cards cloning. Problems concerning mobile phone surveillance towards a designated person by illegal cloning ESN and IMSI have recently risen to be a massive social issue within Korea as well. These studies have experimented the possibility of SIM cards clone in various mobile communication corporations using 2G (GSM) in China, and hence discovered the security vulnerability such as the incoming outgoing, SMS service and additional services on mobile phones using clone SIM cards.

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