SIM card reader

I have never heard of anyone creating a dd/E01 image of a SIM card. I guess I can test a few things tomorrow when I am at work.

What steps have you taken in order to get an image of the SIM?

Software….type of reader….OS you are doing this on?

Does the SIM card have just a SIM partition or also a USIM partition?

Any information you can provide would help us make suggestions to you.

HelenB007 the reasons why you wont be able to image a SIM Card in the way say one may image an HDD are the issues associated with card physical aspects, security and administrative rights on SIM (ICC) and UICC/USIM.

However, please prove me wrong, by all means though, if you or anyone were able to image an entire ICC OS, applications and SIM module, for if that could be done there might be a fair chance to reload that image onto a target SIM and create a clone. At that rate, apart from anything else, security would be entirely defunct. Remember I am not talking about programming a card with copied data, I am referring to the task of imaging a SIM (containing post market profiling) that has been issued into the marketplace and not at the manufacturing stage.

You can though produce a very healthy scan/trace data dump from DFs/EFs that are accessible to the user.

Hello,
the card reader I am using is a 72 in 1 kodak A270 card reader, I have access to any OS although I have only tried it on Windows 7 and on XP. The SIM also has a USIM partition. I was hoping FTK imager would create an image of the SIM but it sounds like now that isnt't as easy as it sounds?

Trewmte, how could I create a scan/trace dump from DFs/EFs that are accessible to the user? and what data will this provide me with?

Thankyou
Helen

Helen,

You really need to go back to the fundamentals and conduct some primary research for your dissertation project. Let's break down your OP into salient points

I am looking at SIM card analysis and want to be able to view the data on a SIM card in hex from an image of the SIM card

Ok. What do you know about ICC/SIM/USIM? Have looked at the wealth of documentation that is publicly available describing not only the physical aspects of the card, but also the SIM/USIM applications themselves? A starter for ten go to http//www.3gpp.org/ftp/specs/html-info/1111.htm and download the latest version of the 3GPP SIM specification.

I have purchased a SIM card reader, which will let me gain access to texts and a phonebook by using the software provided with the reader. It will not let me get access to the SIM card in order to image it, or view it in HEX.

Once you have done some your background reading, you will hopefully understand a bit more why this is the case. The software you appear to be using won't let you view the hexadecimal data, because it's not designed to! There are plenty suitable packages out there USIM Detective, simcon (only for the SIM application) to name a couple.

Does anyone know how to help me view the SIM card in HEX using the reader I have or by using another method to image the SIM card?

'Imaging' of the SIM card, AFAIK, is not possible as TewMTE pointed out. Read the documentation and you'll see why. If your dissertation could find a way to do it, that would be great!

Hello,
the card reader I am using is a 72 in 1 kodak A270 card reader, I have access to any OS although I have only tried it on Windows 7 and on XP. The SIM also has a USIM partition. I was hoping FTK imager would create an image of the SIM but it sounds like now that isnt't as easy as it sounds?

Trewmte, how could I create a scan/trace dump from DFs/EFs that are accessible to the user? and what data will this provide me with?

Thankyou
Helen

HelenB007 do you have any software to extract and harvest data from SIM/USIM?

As Unicron mentioned USIM Detective; do you have a budget to purchase software?

Thankyou for your advice everyone,

Trewmte, I do not have any software as yet but I am trying a free one at the moment on Linux.
I do have a small budget, but I would like to know a bit more about the direction of my project before I do buy anything.
What would you say is the best way to connect a SIM to my computer so I can try the free software? Would the card reader I have work or will something a bit more purpose built be needed?
Thankyou for all your help,
Helen

Any SIM Reader will do,
but forget the idea of "imaging" a sim card.

a sim card is a microcontroller, not a storage/block device.

you need to "talk" with the microcontroller asking it for informations, and it will reply you with such informations if they are available and you are allowed to have access to them.

i suggest you to have some readings on smartcard standards and ISO7816, so that you can understand how sim cards, and generally smartcards work how they are programmed and how they are then used. and why you can't image them

Thankyou for your advice everyone,

Trewmte, I do not have any software as yet but I am trying a free one at the moment on Linux.
I do have a small budget, but I would like to know a bit more about the direction of my project before I do buy anything.
What would you say is the best way to connect a SIM to my computer so I can try the free software? Would the card reader I have work or will something a bit more purpose built be needed?
Thankyou for all your help,
Helen

Perhaps follow PC/SC technology at this stage until you are familiar with all the other avenues available to you.

Below are screenshots to give you a flavour following acquired process and translated through USIM-D

Thankyou )
I will look into these Trewmte, thankyou for the screen shots )