Cell Phone Cloning
CELL PHONE CLONING
Abstract
You might have read news of the cloning of sheep or cattle with amused interest. But how would you feel if somebody `cloned' your mobile phone? Technology is finally rearing up its dark side. Along with the proliferation of technological innovations, this era also marks the birth of the new-age IT criminals in a big way, with the latest technology fraud being cell phone cloning. Cell phone cloning is a technique wherein security data from one cell phone is transferred into another phone. The other cell phone becomes the exact replica of the original cell phone like a clone. As a result, while calls can be made from both phones, only the original is billed. Though communication channels are equipped with security algorithms, yet cloners get away with the help of loop holes in systems. So when one gets huge bills, the chances are that the phone is being cloned. This paper describes about the cell phone cloning with implementation in GSM and CDMA technology phones. It gives an insight into the security mechanism in CDMA and GSM phones along with the loop holes in the systems and discusses on the different ways of preventing this cloning. Moreover, the future threat of this fraud is being elaborated.
1. Introduction Remember Dolly the lamb, cloned from a six-year-old ewe in 1997, by a group of researchers at the Roslin Institute in Scotland? While the debate on the ethics of cloning continues, human race, for the first time, are faced with a more tangible and harmful version of cloning and this time it is your cell phone that is the target. Millions of cell phones users, be it GSM or CDMA, run at risk of having their phones cloned. As a cell phone user if you have been receiving exorbitantly high bills for calls that were never placed, chances are that your cell phone could be cloned. Unfortunately, there is no way the subscriber can detect cloning. Events like call dropping or anomalies in monthly bills can act as
Abstract
You might have read news of the cloning of sheep or cattle with amused interest. But how would you feel if somebody `cloned' your mobile phone? Technology is finally rearing up its dark side. Along with the proliferation of technological innovations, this era also marks the birth of the new-age IT criminals in a big way, with the latest technology fraud being cell phone cloning. Cell phone cloning is a technique wherein security data from one cell phone is transferred into another phone. The other cell phone becomes the exact replica of the original cell phone like a clone. As a result, while calls can be made from both phones, only the original is billed. Though communication channels are equipped with security algorithms, yet cloners get away with the help of loop holes in systems. So when one gets huge bills, the chances are that the phone is being cloned. This paper describes about the cell phone cloning with implementation in GSM and CDMA technology phones. It gives an insight into the security mechanism in CDMA and GSM phones along with the loop holes in the systems and discusses on the different ways of preventing this cloning. Moreover, the future threat of this fraud is being elaborated.
1. Introduction Remember Dolly the lamb, cloned from a six-year-old ewe in 1997, by a group of researchers at the Roslin Institute in Scotland? While the debate on the ethics of cloning continues, human race, for the first time, are faced with a more tangible and harmful version of cloning and this time it is your cell phone that is the target. Millions of cell phones users, be it GSM or CDMA, run at risk of having their phones cloned. As a cell phone user if you have been receiving exorbitantly high bills for calls that were never placed, chances are that your cell phone could be cloned. Unfortunately, there is no way the subscriber can detect cloning. Events like call dropping or anomalies in monthly bills can act as
References: Websites : http://www.cdmasoftware.com/eng.html http://www.victorgsm.com/products/msl/ http://www.unlocker.ru/cdma_soft.php http://www.cxotoday.com http://infotech.indiatimes.com http://www.spy.org http://wiretap.spies.com http://www.hackinthebox.org/