What info can a Sim Card Reader read?

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Nick H - 09 Feb 2005 16:29 GMT

What information is a typical usb/serial PC Simcard Reader able to
read?

What I really want is to be able to get an 'electronic' copy of the
simcard number (the long number printed on the back of the sim card)

If they generally don't, does anyone know if there is another way of
'scanning' a sim card so I can identify it in a database?

Thanks

Nick

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matt weber - 10 Feb 2005 02:32 GMT

>What information is a typical usb/serial PC Simcard Reader able to
>read?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
>Nick

To be honest, the SIM card number is not useful. I'd be surprised if
SIM readers coldn't read it out for you. It isn't all that useful.

It will NOT allow you to clone the card. There is an encryption in the
sim, and it is unique to each SIM, and provides much of GSM security.
When a phone attempts to register, it sends the SIM number. That
number is sent back to the owning carrier, who generate either 1 or 3
challenge messages. For each challenge message, there is an 'expected'
reply. the Challenge message goes through the encryption algorithm on
the SIM, and is sent back as the reply to the challenge message. If
the reply matches the expected reply, you register, otherwise you
don't.

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