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Comment by ipv6ipv4 | Hacker News Reader

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ipv6ipv4·

Why isn't this a bit of generic software that can run on anything?

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Security. To get an idea check out Java Card:

https://www.oracle.com/java/java-card/

It's a physical storage about the carrier. as far as i understand it's more convenient for carriers to onboard clients and also for users in general if a phone dies for example you can swap it into another.

There are CDMA enabled phones that do not need a SIM card but they're a pain to transfer to another carrier. At least today.

I don't need to swap a physical thing to log into my bank on another phone if my main one dies. I'm not sure why this is the answer.

But imagine you have 2FA sms verification (horrible practice but prevalent) and your phone is dead. Sim swap out is helpful.

I don't approve of it personally, but it's a legacy method anyway.

That applies to a physical SIM card, but why is it needed for some eSIM/iSIM that can't be physically separated from the device? At that point it should be done entirely in software.

As I understand, it’s because they also have some physical security concerns. They operate kind of like a secure enclave I guess.

It's a "secure element" which is almost exactly like a "secure enclave". NFC payments also use them.

but who is it secured from tampering, and secured to protect whom? The carriers? the customer? the NSA? Qualcomm? for encryption? for signing? ID/auth? "auth" of the above?

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