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Embedded SIM Design Means No More Swapping Cards

Posted by timothy on from the but-watch-for-the-new-skimmers dept.

judgecorp writes "A new remotely-programmable embedded SIM design from the GSMA operators' group means that devices can be operated on the Internet of things and won't have to be opened up to have their SIM card changed if they move to a different operator. The design could speed up embedded applications."

1 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Would not be a problem at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    a SIM contains a cryptographic signature and some other things.

    It's basically a watered down TPM that has a unique ID, a few kilobytes of storage, and a cryptographic key set.
    A physical device like that makes it difficult to replicate the functionality of the SIM card, making it harder to make one device use the credentials and system identity of another device. (EG, it makes it harder for an attacker to steal your network identity and make lots of 1-900 number calls, which will then show up on YOUR bill, amongst other things-- like framing you in a murder by making all his calls with your number, etc.)

    Making this an easily reprogrammed internal chip makes that physical level of security go away.

    That's a bad thing.

    Sometimes being inconvenienced is really in your best interest.