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A comment on 13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number. Parent comment

Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by sudosysgen on Saturday June 06, 2020 @10:50PM (#23444377)
For example on my LG V30, I can go to the dialer and enter :

    *#*#4636#*#*
I can then go into "Phone info" and set the radio to "LTE only" or "LTE/WCDMA", and if there is no 2G/3G/etc... I will not be have any service. [1]

This also works for most android phones, with small exceptions.

[1] : https://ibb.co/JvZVHXF

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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by opless on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:10AM (#23446520)
Also there’s other ways of leaking your IMSIs, EAP-SIM and carrier wifi for example.

No idea yet how widespread the implementation is as I’m teaching myself all of this in my spare time!

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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by sudosysgen on Sunday June 07, 2020 @10:56AM (#23447788)
EAP-SIM and Carrier WiFi is also not very difficult to disable. In any case, an IMSI leak is not as bad as an IMEI leak.
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by opless on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:14AM (#23447940)
Also ... define “not difficult to disable” when it’s not exposed in the UI.

A *# code doesn’t count here also ;)

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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by sudosysgen on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:59AM (#23448269)
For me, not difficult to disable means that it takes less than 15 minutes to do so. difficult to disable would take hours and require specific knowledge.
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by opless on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:11AM (#23447913)
I think you May have that backward. But why do you think this?
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by sudosysgen on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:29AM (#23448061)
Because the IMSI is changed much more easily than the IMEI, and if in LTE only mode is only temporary.
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by opless on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:07AM (#23446500)
Not all phones are android;)
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by sudosysgen on Sunday June 07, 2020 @10:55AM (#23447775)
Presumably someone that really cares about privacy would use an Android :)
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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by opless on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:12AM (#23447923)
If someone really cared about privacy, you’d not be using cellular technologies at all ;)
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