Cellphone Forensic Software Open Sourced

Niek writes "The Netherlands Forensic Institute (part of the Dutch Ministry of Justice) has open sourced one of their high-profile software frameworks, TULP2G. With this BSD licensed framework, one can extract and decode all data from GSM SIM cards, e.g. called phone numbers and received SMS messages. This was previously only possible with commercial software. Dutch press release, Powerpoint presentation. Earlier this year, the Dutch government GPLed their online election software."

I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just one question before I pack my bags. Is broadband cheap in the netherlands?

Re:I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[davez0r]

Word. I don't usually like to make gross generalizations (was that one right there?), but I think Holland is making an exceptional case for itself as being a Better Place (TM).

Re:I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[bhima]

YES!

Re:I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[Umbral Blot]

in all seriousness this does seem like a wonderfule thing, but does anyone know why their government is so supportive of open-source? My guess would be that their government has less pressure/influence from coperations, and thus does not share a corperation's closed-source paranoia like ours (America) does.

Re:I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[zootread]

Just one question before I pack my bags. Is broadband cheap in the netherlands?

Yes, and so is the weed :)

Re:I think I speak for all of us when I ask...

[raider_red]

Yes, and so is the weed :)

Not to mention the hookers. ;)

Before you think of packing

[SmallFurryCreature]

Read up on the history of Pim Fortuyn.

The netherlands has gotten used to something called coalition goverment. Unlike the US or england we got a lot of parties ranging from (when I was young) to extreme left to extreme right. To be sure both extremes were tiny but they were there with a seat in the goverment after some elections (we are talking really really small here).

So to get a majority the biggest partie would form a coalition with smaller parties and agree on a common policy to govern the country wi

Re:Before you think of packing

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, as a fellow dutchman (I guess, because of the details, grandparent is a dutch person), I would like to point out a another opinion:
Pim Fortuyn was not leading in the polls. Three parties, the conservative-liberal VVD, the social-democrat PvdA, and the christian-democrat CDA were always bigger than the Pim Fortuyn party, in all polls.
Secondly, Theo van Gogh was highly controversial with many Dutch people before his highly hate-inspiring statements about the islam. He was wishing people dead (not a big

Re:Before you think of packing

[Aggrajag]

Very nicely written and I think you put some of my thoughts in writing. I used to live in Nederland for three years (I am from Finland) and could see things from both point of views, immigrant and native (as I look like a Dutchman). The problem I had was that I never managed to learn Dutch properly as I worked at least 12 hours a day and most of my colleagues and friends were also non-Dutch.

hardware ?

[johnjones]

ok so you still need a sim reader right ?

where do I get one of those I am in the uk

plus I am looking into recording GSM signals has anyone got any advice ?

regards

John Jones

Re:hardware ?

[raider_red]

Would a regular smart card reader work?

If not, I found this [tigerdirect.com] from a quick search on Google

Re:hardware ?

[chochos]

I talked to some tech people from a smart card company a couple of months ago and from what I understood, a regular smart card reader can read SIM cards, as long as you have the software for it... which now you have...

Re:hardware ?

[cuteseal]

G'day John... regarding the SIM reader, I saw this recently:
http://www.mrgadget.com.au/catalog/product_info. php/products_id/558

Ships within australia only, but I'm sure you can find it somewhere else.

Re:hardware ?

[RiBread]

try an e-Mobile SIM card reader, http://www.kinforce.com/en/ArticleShow.asp?Article ID=34 [kinforce.com] , about $20 off ebay.

Since you can use this open source application it won't need to bother with the crappy software the sim reader comes with.

You can read my short comments regarding it in my blog [blogspot.com]

HUH ?

[makapuf]

you know, if you really are up to that, you must think of a SIM card as a small (16-64k) filesystem.

Files are organized into a tree structure in directories and protected (read, write..) by PIN codes. Files can be seen as fixed size arrays of fixed siez strings. The GSM standard specification (GSM 11.11) says that, and what information can be found where. (example, on the directory 'GSM' - which is really a filenumber on the sim instead of a filename), you'll have the last number dialled (LDN file).

the procotol used to open/read files is fairly open.

That's it. So what's so special to write such a program ? You need e.g. serial access to the card interface, the SIM specification [3gpp.org], and a small script language, then a few hours later, voila.

(or you could put the SIM card in a phone and check the information)

What you don't have is access to the pin protected information, and good luck to attack those since all european telco industry relies on this.

Re:HUH ?

[ilithiiri]

What you don't have is access to the pin protected information, and good luck to attack those since all european telco industry relies on this.
Since you mean a PIN number, which normally is 4 digits 0-9, I think there would be NO problem in doing a brute-force attack to check what information can be found there.
I.e. last number called protected by PIN? no problem, as long as you get strange characters from the decrypt you go on.. then with one PIN you get some ok characters and you investigate.
Or not?

Re:HUH ?

[makapuf]

instruction READ does not provide the protected information unless you provided the PIN code. So, no copy for you of course.

Then, 3 bad PIN renders the card unusable. No brute force.

Even calculation times and power consumption (generally) have been randomized to prevent attacks. Info is hidden from Eletronic microscope .

Not so trivial anymore.

Re:HUH ?

[Slashamatic]

Not quite true. Certain actions use a PIN but aren't counted by the locking mechanism.

Re:HUH ?

[makapuf]

Which ones ?

Re:HUH ?

[Slashamatic]

It is simple status inquiry and it was used as a documented attack on a PIN. Of course authenticating a PIN takes time, so it still takes many hours of work however using an "Identify" request doesn;t seem to be counted. Here is one link [hackwatch.com] that I found about it.