Cell phone cloning

CELL PHONE CLONING

JASHIR C.K S7 CSE

Rollno:28

INDEX• INTRODUCTION• HISTORY• GSM • CDMA• IMPORTANT TERMS• HOW IS A PHONE CLONED?• METHODS TO DETECT CLONED PHONES• IMPACT OF CLONING• HOW TO PREVENT CLONING?• CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTIONCELL PHONE CLONING:

– copying the identity of one to another– For making fraudulent calls

– security data transferred– Other cell phone become exact replica of original

INTRODUCTION– Calls can be made from both

– Original is billed

– One get huge bill, possibility of cloning

– No way the subscriber can detect

– Taking programmed information

– Service provider has no way to differentiate

WHEN DID CELL CLONING START?

• In telecom market since 1990’s-mostly CDMA• Started with Motorola “bag” phones.• Motorola brick-

– classic, model 800,ultra classic

GSM

– Global System for Mobile Communications.

– A digital cellular phone technology based on TDMA

– Europe, other part of world

– Use SIM contain user account information

GSM

– Immediately programmed after plugging in the SIM card

– Numerous handsets and service providers available in the market

– They comes with cheaper call rate, free message facility

– Airtel,vodafone

CDMA– Code Division Multiple Access.

– Newer technology used in USA,Canada,Australia

– Method for transmitting simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum.

– No SIM card

– Call cost cheaper

– Call quality better

– Reliance,tata indicom

GSM vs. CDMA

• Both handsets are prone to cloning

• it is easier to clone a CDMA

handset over a GSM one

• Though cloning a GSM cell phone

is not impossible

IMPORTANT TERMS

• ESN, which stands for

Electronic Serial Number.

– It is same as the IMEI but is used in CDMA handsets

– loaded when the phone number is manufactured

– Can’t be change by user or subscriber

– If this is known, easily cloned

IMPORTANT TERMS

• MIN stands for Mobile Identification Number,

– which is the same as the SIM of GSM, can’t be replaced

– Min chip is embedded in CDMA handset

HOW IS A PHONE CLONED?

• ESN/MIN pair discovered via

– Sniffing the cellular

– Trashing cellular companies

– Hacking cellular companies


• Each phone has MIN/ESN for identify the phone

• While placing a call, phone transmit both MSN/ESN to n/w

HOW IS A PHONE CLONED?• Cellular thieves capture MSN/ESN

– cell phone ESN reader

– digital data interpreters (DDI)

Specially manufactured to intercept ESN/MIN pair


• MSN/ESN can be cloned– electronic scanning device

• Cloned one is ready

METHODS TO DETECT CLONED PHONES ON NETWORK

• Duplicate detection • Velocity trap • Radio Frequency• Usage profiling • Call counting • PIN codes

METHODS TO DETECT CLONED PHONES ON NETWORK

• Duplicate detection

– Same phone at several place at same time

– Shutting down all of them

– Real customer will contact

– Cloned user switch to another clone

Duplicate detection

METHODS TO DETECT CLONED PHONES

• Velocity trap

– Mobile moving at impossible speeds

– Example(Idk (5min)Trv)

– Must be two phone with same identity on n/w


• RF (Radio Frequency)

– Even Nominally identical radio equipment has distinguishing fingerprint,

– n/w s/w stores and compares fingerprints of all phones that it sees

– This way, it will spot the clones with the same identity but different fingerprints.


• Usage profiling – Keep customer phone usage profile

– Discrepancies noticed ,customer is contacted

– Example(local call -) foreign )

– Indicates a possible clone


• Call counting – Phone and n/w keep track of call made

– If they differ from usually allowed one ,service denied


• PIN codes – to placing a call, the caller unlocks the phone by

PIN

– After the call completed, the user locks

– Operators may share PIN information to enable safer roaming

IMPACT OF CLONING

• Loss of revenue• CTIA estimates that financial losses

– b/w $600million to $800 million in US

IMPACT OF CLONING

• Illegal activities– This phenomenon is especially prevalent in drug crimes

HOW TO PREVENT CLONING?

• Uniquely identifies a mobile unit within a wireless carrier's network.

• MINs and ESNs can be checked electronically to help prevent fraud.

• Service providers have adopted certain measures to prevent fraud, includes– Encryption,blocking,blacklisting,user verification, traffic

analysis

HOW TO PREVENT CLONING?

• User verification using PIN is one of the customer verification method

• Check that all mobile devices are covered by a corporate security policy

CONCLUSION

• Presently the cellular phone industry relies on common law – fraud and theft and in-house counter measures

to address cellular phone fraud.

• Mobile Cloning Is in initial stages in India– Preventive step taken by govt & n/w provider

CONCLUSION

• Existing cellular systems have a number of potential weaknesses

• It is crucial that businesses and staff take mobile phone security seriously.

REFERENCE

• IEEE journal for mobile communication

• www.google.com

• wikipedia.org

• www.1000project.org

• www.seminaronly.com

QUESTIONS???

THANK YOU

Cell phone cloning

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