Mobile Phone Cloning

 

What is Mobile Phone Cloning?

Mobile phone cloning is a way of making a copy of the entire mobile phone data in another mobile by an illegal methodology. The purpose of such an activity is to make unauthorized use of the mobile phone. The data in the other phone would contain all the data of the previous phone that can be used for fraudulent activities or for making anonymous calls from the clone, causing the bill to be addressed to the correct mobile owner. 

Access to the Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and Mobile Identification Number (MIN) pairs is required for cloning. This can be done by methods such as sniffing the cellular network, trashing the cellular companies or re-sellers, or by hacking the cellular providers. 

Experimentation of cloning in GSM phones has been successful. However, due to the difficulty involved in such techniques, it is beyond the reach of most people and is only limited to serious researchers and hackers, and people who handle convert missions. The older phones were more prone to cloning. Cloning as a means of escaping the law is very difficult as the radio fingerprint (present in all mobile phone’s transmission signal remains the same even if the Electronic Serial Number, ESN or Mobile Identification Number, MIN are changed). This mismatch can be used to identify fraudulent activities. 

Types of Mobile Phones

Let’s discuss the different types of mobile phones.

1. CDMA: This type of mobile phone is called the Code Division Multiple Access mobile phone. Using this, the signal can be transferred over a shared portion of the spectrum. This type of mobile phone does not use SIM cards. The operators providing CDMA services are Reliance and Tata Indicom.

2. GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications mobile phones contain the Subscriber Identity Model or SIM cards which contain the information about the user. The SIM card can be plugged into the GSM phone to program it. This also makes way for the GSM phones to be easily borrowed or rented. Operators providing GSM technology services include Airtel, Reliance JIO, VI, etc.