The Hindu : New Delhi News : A threat to national security

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

A threat to national security

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, FEB. 1. The issue of rampant cloning of mobile SIM cards has raised serious questions over matters of security not only of mobile phone users but also of the country in view of the suspected use of such technology for organised crime and other unscrupulous activities. While only two rackets in SIM card cloning have been unearthed in the Capital within a month, several more are suspected to be operating here and other parts of the country.

The fast developments in the world of communications have made certain equipments available in the market which are being abused by miscreants. The recent cases of SIM card cloning have revealed that such elements have obtained gadgets like SIM readers and software which can be used to extract and feed details of one card to the other. The police said such gadgets are now easily available. They can be purchased from places like Gaffar and Lajpat Rai markets. The technology used to clone these SIM cards is similar to the one used by criminals to clone credit cards using skimmers.

Through skimmers, the data stored in genuine credit cards gets downloaded in the computer and with the help of a computer software the encrypted data is sorted out and then transposed on blank plastic cards having magnetic strips, with the help of the electronic data writer. Similarly, to create copies of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cards, the culprits used SIM reader to download its data. Then a computer software is used to decrypt the data to retrieve the Integrated Circuit Card Identification (ICCID), International Mobile Security Identification (IMSI), Short-Messaging-Service Identification (SMSI) and Authentication Key numbers, apart from the personal data. The software is then used to transpose these vital information on another card, after which it becomes identical to the original one. The users of such cards cannot be tracked down that easily and the price for the calls made by them are paid by the original cardholders. Apart from individual financial losses, such cards provide opportunity to criminal elements to remain in touch with each other without the fear of being tracked down easily.

Investigations into the racket smashed by the South-West Delhi police have suggested that over 50 per cent of the calls made and received between India and the Middle-East are being arranged through either illegal telephone exchange or by cloned CDMA and GSM SIM cards.

The apprehensions are that such a modus operandi can be employed by anti-national elements to achieve their goals without being detected. The fact that the cases of SIM cards are increasing manifold has led the police and even the intelligence agencies to gauge its repercussions. It is learnt that the mobile service providers would be contacted to find a solution to the problem at the earliest.

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