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Would eSIM[0] improve the state of affairs with respect to privacy? On the one hand, as SIM circuits are now being shipped with phones, I can imagine the manuf
by boramalper 5y ago
Would eSIM[0] improve the state of affairs with respect to privacy?
On the one hand, as SIM circuits are now being shipped with phones, I can imagine the manufacturers having the opportunity, for the first time ever, to control the operations of a SIM such that it’s no longer a black-box. On the other hand, due to legislative and practical reasons, eSIM modules would likely be no different than those black-box baseband processors with the further downside than we would also become unable to intercept the communication between a SIM (whose circuitry is now embedded) and a phone.
I would love to read the answers of those who are more knowledgeable on the subject.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESIM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESIM
- mike_d 5y agoeSIMs are just the SIM chip implemented in a surface mount component soldered directly onto the board. The only difference is some limited parts of the cards memory are not write protected so it can be provisioned from software.
- b112 5y agoMeaning it is easier to hack, and also, debug/monitor, for now it is harder to place a device between sim and phone, as in this article.
- lxgr 5y ago> some limited parts of the cards memory are not write protected This is a huge oversimplification. The card is running software that allows downloading and installing new profiles, but it will perform cryptographic validation of any payload handed to it. Even if a SIM profile passes that validation, the resulting SIM application will be instantiated with limited privileges on the smart card (which is arguably quite powerful since it matches that of SIM applications on physical SIMs).
- zinekeller 5y agoA SIM Card* is a ISO card running a variant of JavaCard OS with standard APIs mandated by GSMA or 3GPP (despite it's already 5G) implemented, but carriers can (and do) add internal features for their use, to the point that some weird SIMs (no longer seen today) could also function as a debit card¤. Think of it as roughly similar to the POSIX compatibilty between Linux, macOS and *BSD, while having widly different capabilities tacked on. eSIMs just remove the physical ISO card package and put it instead into a dedicated chip inside your phone, so in theory and in practice it could do anything a regular SIM can do. * To be fair, I'm not familiar with how CDMA networks handle this, but this is irrelevant in the sense that CDMA (depending on the carrier) is dying or even dead already (in favour of LTE et al.). ¤ Payment cards and original SIM cards are ISO/IEC Card ID-1, the "mini" SIM cards are ISO/IEC Card ID-000, and micro and nano SIM cards are non-ISO additions by 3GPP.
- adolph 5y agoThe JavaCard OS website seems direct from 1999: https://www.javacardos.com/about/ https://www.javacardos.com/about/ CNN might want to have a word with them regarding logo font: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/chop-suey-fonts-hyphenated/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/chop-suey-fonts-hyphen...
- darkwater 5y ago> The JavaCard OS website seems direct from 1999: https://www.javacardos.com/about/ https://www.javacardos.com/about/ And you can still follow them on Google+!
- adolph 5y agoAntique websites are so fascinating
- lxgr 5y agoTo be fair, that's just one specific Java Card implementation, not the entire platform. Head over to Oracle for slightly more modern logos ;) https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/java-card-tech.html https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/java-card-tech.html