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Tracking Via Anonymous SIM Cards

Posted by michael on from the leaving-a-calling-card dept.

Noryungi writes "The New York Times reports that Al Qaeda operatives were tracked using the ID of the GSM phone chips sold by a Swiss company named Swisscom. Very interesting."

11 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Al Queda's Dumbest Criminals by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

    The terrorists were lulled into a false sense of security when they kept changing phones, but took their SIM cards from one phone to the next to keep their number and minutes. Therefore, while the hardware changed, the identity didn't. That's what did them in...

  2. It's their own fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    for buying 867-5309.

  3. Nice troll, but as everyone knows, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    it was the Freemasons that shot down TWA 800.

  4. Re:Look at how fast they adapted by HullBreach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Psst.... Theres a black helicopter over your house right now!! Seriously, I dont like PATRIOT and the other crap pushed on us by the paniced public any more than anybody else, but saying the Navy shot down that plane is just ignorant.

    --
    "Hand me the bullet-shooty-thing and a box of little hurts" -Overheard on a USMC Rifle range
  5. HA! by leifm · · Score: 5, Funny

    So they think I am always in my underwear drawer, since that is where the SIM card for my last GSM phone has resided for the last year.

    TDMA for life!

    --

    "Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
  6. Qaeda's painful addiction to 'da SIMs... by mynameis+(mother+... · · Score: 5, Interesting
    We all knew they lived in their own fantasy world!

    Some of my favorite quotes:
    From both the mental image and funny-long-names-of-stuff-in-Germany file:

    1. "If you beat terrorists over the head enough, they learn," said Col. Nick Pratt, a counterterrorism expert and professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
    And the enjoying-that-feeling-of-absolute-superiority-over -those-you-deem-less-palatable-then-santorum file:
    1. One senior official said the authorities were grateful that Qaeda members were so loyal to Swisscom.
      Another official agreed: "They'd switch phones but use the same cards. The people were stupid enough to use the same cards all of the time. It was a very good thing for us."

    And I'm sure this one has already been posted, but...
    From both the kill-joy and tinfoil-hat/nuking-new-$20s files:
    1. "They thought these phones protected their anonymity, but they didn't," said a senior intelligence official based in Europe. Even without personal information, the authorities were able to conduct routine monitoring of phone conversations."
    Sigh...
  7. Some precisions by Max+von+H. · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This isn't new at all - we've heard about it a couple of years ago here in Switzerland. BTW, Swisscom happens to be the not-so-former telecom monopoly here, pretty big stuff, not just some random company exploiting a legal loophole. Thing is it's been possible to buy totally anonymous GSM cards here for ages (8 years or so), effectively providing you pre-paid phone number to use in any GSM phone, in and outside of Switzerland.

    For about $50 you get a SIM card that you can put in you GSM mobile. You now have a phone number and some initial credit. You can buy credit (a card with a hidden number to dial) from any news stand anytime. Never in the process does your name appear anywhere. You can even buy the cards in supermarkets.

    The question of such anonymity was raised several times, but ultimately the decision was that it wasn't possible to require personal information for such items. Since there's no contract and no bills in the system, there's no reason to ask for your name, address, etc. And there's millions of them in use already.

    Note that all operators offer such cards. It's a bit more expensive than regular price plans but damn useful if you're a traveler, want to control expenses or can't get a regular plan because of bad credit. To my knowledge, many other european countries offer such prepaid cards now... We just happened to be the first.

    --
    -- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
    1. Re:Some precisions by srslif16 · · Score: 5, Informative

      You should be aware of the fact that the cell-phone itself has an ID number, EIN (Equipment Identity Number), which is stored in a database in the GSM system. Until 1999, it was rare that a GSM operator used this, but in 1999, a large db was created on Ireland. Since then, it is common to have one.

      This db is used to keep track of stolen and faulty cellphones (well, terminals, really), refusing service to those classes of equipment. However, nothing stops the operator from using this information instead of the IMSI on the SIM card for tracking purposes.

      Also, in modern GSM O&M software, it's a builtin feature: you tell the system that you wish tp keep track of all movements and calls of this IMSI number, or EIN. It's then logged to file.

      It gets even better: you can of course record when the EIN is changed; moving the SIM card then just means another EIN will be tracked (as well as the old one...), and of course the SIM-card that is next put into the phone you just monitored might get monitored too...

      It's all just a few clicks in the GUI away. Disk space is cheap. Welcome, Brave New World.

  8. Anyone can do this in the UK by Andy+Davies · · Score: 5, Informative

    Big deal...

    This 'top secret tracking" is available to consumers and companies in the UK see:.

    http://followus.co.uk
    http://www.fleetonline.net

    Of course you need the phone owners permission.

  9. Re:Look at how fast they adapted by DR+SoB · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually your wrong. There are different technologies for cell phone antenna's. The old ones simply relied on your cell phone saying "I am getting the best signal. Now they have "Directional Antenna Array's" (google search it), and basically it triangalets your exact location based on the signal from multiple sources, quite a bit different then "Which is the best signal". The good news: Cell phone reception went WAY up, the bad news, they can track where you are to within a few metres. Is this good or bad? Who cares, as /. pointed out already, they can track you with your cash, your cc's, your bank card, your car, etc. etc. etc..

    Big Brother(x) = 1984 + 20 = 2004.

    --
    Mod +5 Drunk
  10. Re:Look at how fast they adapted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Bullshit.

    I have had the 911 tracking save a frieds leg before. We were on a motorcycle trip and the bike burst into flames. It was abou t11pm and I had no idea where I was. I call 911 from my cell. I told them I didn't know where I was but my friend was burned really bad. They said not to worry an ambulance and fire truck was on the way and they could get a good idea of my location from my cell phone. I told them that when they got close we would be the two guys standing about 50 yards from the burnign motorcycle. We laughed, my friend go taway without skin grafts, and insurance paid for my motorcycle. Now, lets get rid of that because you think you are important enough for our goverment to track.