presented by:
Aneesha

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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 Roslyn 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 tickers.
According to media reports, recently the Delhi (India) police arrested a person with 20 cell- phones, a laptop, a SIM scanner, and a writer. The accused was running an exchange illegally wherein he cloned CDMA based cell phones. He used software named Patagonia for the cloning and provided cheap international calls to Indian immigrants in West Asia.
2. WHAT ARE GSM AND CDMA MOBILE PHONE SETS?
CDMA is one of the newer digital technologies used in Canada, the US, Australia, and some South-eastern Asian countries (e.g. Hong Kong and South Korea). CDMA differs from GSM and TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) by its use of spread spectrum techniques for transmitting voice or data over the air. Rather than dividing the radio frequency spectrum into separate user channels by frequency slices or time slots, spread spectrum technology separates users by assigning them digital codes within the same broad spectrum. Advantages of CDMA include higher user capacity and immunity from interference by other signals.
GSM is a digital mobile telephone system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of TDMA and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies. GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1,800 MHz frequency band.
Some other important terms whose knowledge is necessary are
 IMEI
 SIM
 ESN
 MIN
So, first things first, the IMEI is an abbreviation for International Mobile Equipment Identifier, this is a 10 digit universally unique number of our GSM handset. I use the term Universally Unique because there cannot be 2 mobile phones having the same IMEI no. This is a very valuable number and used in tracking mobile phones.
Second comes SIM, which stands for Subscriber Identification Module. The sim has survived and evolved. Earlier the mobiles had the entire sim card to be inserted in them such sim’s are called IDG-1 Sims. The other in which we small part of the card which has the chip is inserted in the mobile and is known as PLUG-IN Sims.
Basically the SIM provides storage of subscriber related information of three types:
 Fixed data stored before the subscription is sold
 Temporary network data
 Service related data.
ESN mean Electronic Serial Number. This number is loaded when the phone number is manufactured. This number cannot be tampered or changes by the user or subscriber. if this number is known a mobile can be cloned easily.
Personal Identification Number (PIN). Every subscriber provides a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to its user. This is a unique number. If PIN and ESN are known a mobile phone can be cloned in seconds using some software’s like Patagonia, which is used to clone CDMA phones. ESN is same as the IMEI but is used in CDMA handsets. MIN stands for Mobile Identification Number, which is the same as the SIM of GSM.
The basic difference between a CDMA handset and a GSM handset is that a CDMA handset has no sim i.e. the CDMA handset uses MIN as its Sim, which cannot be replaced as in GSM. The MIN chip is embedded in the CDMA hand set.
3. HOW CELL PHONE WORKS?
Cell phones send radio frequency transmissions through the air on two distinct channels, one for voice communications and the other for control signals. When a cellular phone makes a call, it normally transmits its Electronic Security Number (ESN), Mobile Identification Number (MIN), its Station Class Mark (SCM) and the number called in a short burst of data. This burst is the short buzz you hear after you press the SEND button and before the tower catches the data. These four things are the components the cellular provider uses to ensure that the phone is programmed to be billed and that it also has the identity of both the customer and the phone. MIN and ESN is collectively known as the ‘Pair’ which is used for the cell phone identification.
When the cell site receives the pair signal, it determines if the requester is a legitimate registered user by comparing the requestor's pair to a cellular subscriber list. Once the cellular telephone's pair has been recognized, the cell site emits a control signal to permit the subscriber to place calls at will. This process, known as Anonymous Registration, is carried out each time the telephone is turned on or picked up by a new cell site.
4. SECURITY VULNERABILITIES IN CELL PHONE.
Your cellular telephone has three major security vulnerabilities:
• Monitoring of your conversations while using the phone.
• Your phone being turned into a microphone to monitor conversations in the vicinity of your phone while the phone is inactive.
• Cloning or the use of your phone number by others to make calls that are charged to your account.