[Tfug] OT: Sim (sp?) card hacking

[Bexley Hall]

> >> Most people who talk about SIM card
> >> hacking mean duplicating a SIM card to "get unauthorized service".
> > 
> > Yes. Or, switch their service to another phone, etc.
> 
> Really? As I understand it, No.
> 
> Once you unlock the phone, any carrier's SIM will work in
> it. (GSM)
> 
> Here's one example.
> http://unlock.nokiafree.org/
> 
> If you download the nokiafree Windows executable client, be
> prepared to get spyware or a virus on your 'Doze box when
> using it. 

I suspect there is a difference between "unlocking" a phone
(i.e., severing its tie to a particular vendor) and getting
*another* phone to work on your existing service.

I am extrapolating this from a request made of me by a friend
some years ago; namely, to allow him and his wife to have *two*
phones tied to a *single* service (i.e., assuming only one
phone is ever in use at any given time, his thought was
that the service provider should never be able to *tell* that
it wasn't "his" phone that *her* calls were being placed on).

As I refuse to carry something (and *pay* for it!) that enables
people to pester me at *their* convenience (<grin>), I am
largely clueless as to what *was* possible then and *is*
possible, *now*.  However, I agree with his assumption that
this *should* be possible (though not desireable from the provider's
standpoint).  As "proof" (er, "as a convincing argument"), the
fact that pirates can (could?) "borrow" your account and make
unauthorized calls on it without your consent from *other*
phones (besides yours) suggests that this should be possible
irregardless (favorite non-word :> ) of whether your phone is
unlocked from your particular provider.

<shrug>  Awful hard to make things truly tamper proof.