Cellular security: better, but foes still lurk

Service providers have largely solved the cellular phone cloning problem through application of technology, but it has been replaced by other problems: subscription fraud (the same problem that bedevils issuers of credit cards) and the misapplication of service provider subsidies on handsets. Subscription fraud has several forms: pretending to be another, real person; pretending to be a nonexistent person; and even just being yourself and pretending you intend to pay your bill. Subsidy fraud involves taking a phone whose cost has been heavily subsidized by a cellular carrier and activating it on a different carrier´s network. Solutions to these problems exist. As the practice of conducting serious business over the Internet continues to grow, other security issues will arise. In particular someone conducting business on a cell phone needs to be confident of the identity of the other instrument´s user. The technical solutions discussed, like RF fingerprinting and authentication, do a good job of guaranteeing that the handset is what it claims to be, but they guarantee nothing about the person using it. Several approaches are being pursued to user identification