Questions tagged [simcard]

A subscriber identity module, or SIM card, is a circuit used to store the IMSI number and associated key used as authentication on mobile telephony devices (for example mobile phones and tablets).

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Homebrew eSIM question [closed]

Is there a place to get network keys for carriers to make an esim without a phone number, like the amazon ereaders that would attatch to mobile networks without a carrier?
Michael Williams's user avatar
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Read PIN or PUK of sim card [duplicate]

Is there a card reader or software that can read the PIN or PUK of a sim card? I consider 2 situations: The sim card is not inserted in a mobile device, i.e. no login possible. No PINs or PUKs are ...
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How to prevent hackers from using my phone number to make accounts?

It seems a hacker is using my phone number to make fraudulent account, and I would like to prevent that. Usually, if a person has your phone number, they're not able to make an account because a ...
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Can an employer track phone activity without a company SIM and without MDM?

Been looking for a phone upgrade and my dad has an iPhone (iPhone 13) given to him by his work, which he doesn’t use anymore. He offered to let me use it on the condition that the company can’t see ...
StaticSnow's user avatar
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161 views

eSIM/eUICC relay attacks

I'm trying to understand how the eSIM is protected against cloning. Here is the diagram from GSMA standard: Now the ICT operator has its own security domain in which all the GSM related keys ...
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Can a simcard's public IP be accessed?

I am in a discussion with someone about IoT devices. We use private IPs for simcards, but the other organisation is using public IPs. I think it is possible for a hacker to access these public IPs to ...
Iot_Engineer's user avatar
5 votes
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3k views

Are there any security benefits to enabling the PIN on an eSIM?

For physical SIMs, I'm aware of a number of security benefits to enabling the SIM PIN, because for an attacker with access to a lost or stolen SIM, a PIN prevents transferring the SIM to a different ...
Lachlan Hunt's user avatar
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Why did attackers try to change billing address in a SIM swap attack?

Recently, we saw a spat of sim swap attacks against some of our users in my organization. It was a unusually high number of "number transfer" requests being sent out by a mobile carrier. ...
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Would removing a SIM disable the phone number and block text scams

I have a PAYG basic Nokia mobile, not a smartphone, and have noticed on my EE A/c there is a transaction for a Text Service with a charge of 15p, appearing every so often, which is nothing to do with ...
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What is the most secure internet access option for Android phones?

My goal is to make one of my android phones as secure as possible, hence the question: What is the most secure way for an Android phone to gain internet access? Options I (think I) have: The phone ...
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Is a 2fa app really better than SMS 2fa with sim-pin?

A sim-pin safeguards against sim-swapping, which is the primary advantage of using an authenticator app instead of SMS, is this not so?
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What are the pitfalls of adding a corporate eSIM to an unmanaged employee device in lieu of land-line phones?

Instead of having a landline at each employee's desk, allow them to add an eSIM to a compatible personal cell phone. (If possible, disable SMS for the added eSIM so it is acting as a replacement for ...
PlasticCasio's user avatar
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What equipment would an attacker need to infect a SIM card?

I'm aware that SIM cards can store malware according to this question but what equipment would be needed to do such an attack? For example, would you need a Computer and a SIM card reader or could it ...
verynormal's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
111 views

How much of a security threat to the PC is a SIM card running applets when plugged into a USB modem?

Background A customer complained to a mobile phone company that they were receiving messages that were leaving the screen turned on until it was noticed by the customer (usually many hours) by which ...
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How can you spoof you caller id but not using a voip (your carrier instead)?

My research: I found this security stackexchange post but it didn't answer my question. I know that you can do similar things using astresik with voip provider. I came up on o blog that explain that ...
s0n0fj0hn's user avatar
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1 answer
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Avoiding carrying my main SIM card

In many countries, for example, Russia where I live, you need to show an ID to obtain a SIM card. Often this is used by law enforcement to track people. Sometimes corrupt officers sell people's ...
Alex's user avatar
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2 answers
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Will Google Authenticator stop a sim-swap attack from compromising my Coinbase?

If I use Google Authenticator for Coinbase, and someone sim-swaps my phone number and gains full access to my email account, can they drain my Coinbase account? They would be in control of my email, ...
Jacob High's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Can you connect to a mobile network without a SIM?

I know during emergency calls we can connect to our mobile networks without using a SIM and make calls. So it's technically possible to connect. The SIM card holds encrypted info on how to ...
Andri Nic's user avatar
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2 answers
192 views

What makes this cellphone (and the weird instructions) so privacy-friendly?

I stumbled upon this weird product in a webstore primarily selling Cannabis-related products (not the actual herbs): https://smoketower.com/nyheter/Anonym-3310-mobiltelefon I've manually translated ...
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Can I determine whether my phone probes base transmission station (BTS) without a SIM card?

This question is related to another inquiry on this site: Can Android phone running without SIM card be tracked (localized) by police? Accepted answer claims that: Without a SIM, your cell phone ...
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6 answers
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How to protect against SIM swap scammers?

SIM swap occurs where the scammer uses phished information about you to request a SIM card replacement from your cell phone carrier, by tricking them into believing that it is you who is making the ...
user610620's user avatar
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527 views

Should I occasionally replace my SIM card for security reasons?

To be able to use mobile data (e.g. 4G/ LTE) and mobile telephony (e.g. VoLTE) services on my smartphone, I need to put a SIM card into my smartphone (I know embedded-SIM/ eSIM exists but let's ignore ...
luke359's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is hacking email with simjacking a concern if you don't have 2FA for the email?

I've been doing some reading on simjacking lately, mainly around how one may be compromised. One common tidbit I read is that you can access your email and your other financial services if you have ...
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2 answers
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Does replacing the SIM card mitigate any threats after a serious data breach?

I recently heard that a telephone company (a mobile network operator) was hacked and lots of data was stolen, maybe affecting up to a million customers. It sounds like the leaked data is already ...
reed's user avatar
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17 votes
3 answers
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Real life examples of malware propagated by SIM cards?

The laptops in use at my company have SIM card slots, which are actually used by some of our users. I am threat modeling our devices, so I was wondering if there are any realistic exploits that can be ...
lauraaaaa's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Can WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram be hacked through a SIM SWAP attack?

In Cuba the telecoms/ISP monopoly, Etecsa, works with the political police to spy on dissidents, journalists and others. A common attack in Cuba is therefore SIM Swapping which is easy for them. It is ...
Pedro's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
306 views

How is SIM blocking enforced?

The only protection features that mobile phones have to keep thieves that stole a target's device from impersonating that subscriber is the PIN/PUK system that's on by default on most SIM cards. The ...
Alex's user avatar
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1 answer
190 views

Massive operational security hole

Everything is based on phones now. If I have someone's phone I can reset their Salesforce password, access any SAS services etc. Assume this Hacker finds someone's phone number Hacker buys (or works ...
D J Sims's user avatar
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33 views

What harm can a leaked IMSI do? [duplicate]

I know that subscribers can be tracked using IMSI. I also know IMSI follows a pattern of MCC+MNC+MSIN where MCC and MNC parts remain static for a certain PLMN. What changes is the MSIN part. As such, ...
Das-G's user avatar
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How can you check if a phone number was recently moved? (To mitigate SIM swapping)

I know never to use phone number as a sole or backup authentication factor. But if a customer forgets their password, and I want to use information they know about their account alongside access to ...
Han Seoul-Oh's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
648 views

My SIM card was stolen. What info besides contacts does it store?

And can they break the PIN number easily?
JasonSamPeter's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
135 views

Are the locations text messages are sent from logged?

When you send a text message from a phone with a sim card, is there a log which records your location at the moment, or any other information? is it linked to the phone? to the sim card? to both?
Simo's user avatar
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How I rescue my Android from a trojan and how did I get it? [closed]

I received a message with the famous link My-love co via Whatsapp and I never clicked on the link; I blocked the contact and deleted the message containing it; such a link was reported as infected by ...
franz1's user avatar
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1 answer
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Does a SIM card still require a PIN even after being deactivated by the SIM-providing company?

For example, if I lost my SIM card (and stopped using it for years), and someone found it years later (after being deactivated by the SIM providing company due to extended nonuse), would the person ...
JasonSamPeter's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
8k views

esim vs sim card, what is more secure?

I can read many different attack vectors like swapping and porting but not sure if all those attacks are relevant about eSIM, can you please explain what are a security risk and attack vectors that ...
Filipon's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Sniff the traffic of sim card [closed]

I wonder if Sim Card traffic can be sniffed? I mean only the internet connection when it makes to requests to several websites. Sniff those traffic by WireShark maybe? P.S: not messages, only network ...
Olivia Gonzalez's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
242 views

How to prevent sim swap to the most extent possible

There's a technique called sim swap, which enables a fraudster to transfer the victim phone number to an other sim, allowing a fraudster hence to read the messages but especially to empty out their ...
abdul's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is a USB dongle with an active 3/4G data SIM trackable?

Let's say I buy a second-hand USB dongle and put in a pre-paid and unregistered data SIM card. At the time of the purchase of both items, my face was covered, I paid cash and I live 500 miles from the ...
cheekykid's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

simjacker: which SIMs are vulnerable?

simjacker.com looks like a pretty serious security issue with SIM cards. There's not much technical detail on their website though. And it'd be nice to be able to already know which SIMs are ...
the's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
180 views

SimJacking protection [closed]

How do you protect your mobile phones from SimJacking?
Kingflomb's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
3k views

Does the telecom provider need physical access to the SIM card to clone it?

In many dictatorships SIM card cloning is used by the police (working together with the telco) to spy on dissidents, journalists etc. Some people say that you need the authentication key on ...
Pedro's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
310 views

SIM cards - Keeping my phone calls secret

I'm traveling in Canada and I don't want to use my company phone for private calls. I am also interested in minimizing costs but I am more concerned about relative anonymity. So I bought a SIM card ...
Will Smith's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
13k views

What happens if incorrect SIM card PUK entered 10 times?

I know that if incorrect SIM card PIN is entered three times, it is erased, so there is no longer any valid PIN, but user can set up new PIN with PUK. But when incorrect PUK is entered 10 times, it is ...
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3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Can websites uniquely identify users by the sim card used to access the website?

If I was to use a phone's data connection to access a website, and then pop that sim card into another phone to access the same website, could the website tell that I am the same user?
Wavey Chills's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
375 views

Can mobile service providers use my iPhone's microphone to listen even when I'm not on a call?

So is this technically possible? Basically can the service provider somehow hack into my phone and use the microphone to hear the surrounding of my phone if they somehow have a backdoor/malicious code ...
Richard Jones's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
178 views

How can I test aspects of SIM cards? [closed]

In the past couple of months, I have had a bug in my SIM card. When data limit is reached, the SIM gives me free Internet at the speed of 10kbps. If I then switch my network type from 4g to 3g and ...
yeah_well's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
490 views

Is Duo MFA vulnerable to a SIM swap exploit?

I'm looking into MFA options for a group of around 1000 people. Duo is intriguing, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable implementing something that incorporates text messaging (in contrast to something ...
Server Fault's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
347 views

How do I protect myself against SIM hijacking/social engineering?

There are several posts like these: https://medium.com/@N/how-i-lost-my-50-000-twitter-username-24eb09e026dd https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/5984zn/listen-to-sim-jacking-account-ransom-...
Uzimoto's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
2k views

Trip to China - safeguarding phone and laptop

I am going to China for a 2 week vacation in a month I will be taking a Google Pixel with a Verizon SIM and using it while there. I assume that if I don't use a local SIM, it would be difficult for ...
help's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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How do third party providers remove the SIM lock on a mobile phone?

There are third party providers online who offer to remove the SIM lock on mobile phones, by emailing the unlock code. All they ask for is the phone's IMEI and the network provider's name. In one ...
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