The article is hugely unclear about how the author actually managed to reset the pin counter. The command Cla=80 Ins=CA P1=9F P2=17 Lc=00 means GET DATA 9F17 (PIN try counter) and has nothing to do with overwriting whatever value is stored there (the command is defined in EMV Book 3 section 6.5.7).

And also the discretionary data field on both magnetic stripe and track image data stored on chip is usually not used as "PIN Verification Value", but is either unused or used as CVC/CVV1. Even when these data were the real PVV, this information is mostly useless for deducing the PIN. (and the fact that the magstripe image stored on chip does not match the real magstripe is mostly to be expected)

Yeah, I didn't read through the details

The way this works in GSM SIM cards is the following: If an operation needs authentication you have to provide your PIN to the chip.

This operation returns OK or not. There's no counter to be checked (IIRC) and it can't be reset.

If you got the PIN right then operations will succeed (like listing SMSs, Phone book, or making a call) otherwise they'll return a "needs auth" error code

GSM 11.11

I wish I could say something, but I'm still under embargo, 11 years later (the last time I agreed an embargo without an expiry, lesson learned!).

Don't let someone get your card, and if you think they do, report it to your bank. At least since 2009 you won't be liable for any fraud.

Great summary :)