TABLE OF CONTENTS SIM is the abbreviation of Subscriber Identity Module and is a chipcard with electronically stored information of a GSM subscriber. The use of exchangeable chipcards means that GSM services are independent from GSM telephones.
Data in an SIM can be protected with a PIN (Personal Identity Number). A PIN consists of four to eight digits, is requested after a GSM telephone has been switched on, and can be entered using the telephone's keyboard. [1] The number of attempts to enter a PIN is limited to three. If none of the attempts is successful, access to the protected data will be blocked. This block can be cancelled with a PUK (PIN unblocking code). A PUK consists of eight digits and includes a new PIN. The number of attempts to enter a PUK is limited to ten. If none of the attempts is successful, the possibility to cancel the PIN block will be disabled permanently.
SIMs can be subjected to a standard inspection, in which case the accessible SIM data are copied to a digital storage medium. From this copy a report is generated automatically. Finally, an integrity mark is added to all data copied from the SIM.
This annex describes the standard inspection of GSM SIM chipcards. The Netherlands Forensic Institute has developed the SIM program for this purpose.
SIM is a computer program, suitable for 32-bit Windows systems, for reading GSM SIMs.
