ALL ABOUT BLUETOOTH AND HOW IT WORKS
Bluetooth was created in 1994 by Ericsson, a Swedish telecom vendor, and it’s named after Harold “Bluetooth” Gormsson, a 10th-century Danish king who united warring tribes. Even the Bluetooth logo is based on the symbols he uses for his initials.
It’s a fairly secure type of personal area network wireless communication technology that relies on short-range radio frequency, and any devices that incorporate the technology can communicate with each other as long as they’re within range.
It’s a low-power, low-bandwidth short-range communication protocol primarily designed for low-power consumption based on low transceiver chips in each Bluetooth device. It’s a radio communication system, and this means devices don’t necessarily have to be in a visual line of sight of each other, though a quasi-optical wireless path must be available for a stable connection to be made.
Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a conglomeration of more than 38,000 member companies spanning the areas of consumer electronics, computing, telecommunication, and networking.
The purpose of the interest group is to oversee the development of the specification, manage the qualification program, and protect trademarks.
Electronic device manufacturers who need to include Bluetooth technology have to incorporate the defined industry requirements and specifications, which will enable all Bluetooth devices to recognize and connect with each other regardless of manufacturer.
A Bluetooth device can communicate with seven devices in a piconet , though Bluetooth devices rarely get to reach this maximum. Bluetooth has the ability to connect several devices at a time, which helps overcome the problem of synchronization. Devices can switch roles by agreement, where the slave becomes the master or vice versa.
It uses frequency-hopping spread spectrum where data transmitted is divided into packets, and each is transmitted on one of the 79 designated channels, which has a bandwidth of 1 MHz.
Currently, Bluetooth technology comes in two distinct versions:
Bluetooth Classic, which has up to 79 2.4GHz channels at its disposal, is mainly used for applications that require persistent and frequent data transfers.
Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), which has up to 40 channels at its disposal and is optimized for burst communications that preserve battery life.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
Much like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth operates in the range of 2400–2483.5 MHz, or the unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band. Wi-Fi also operates in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency ranges, unlike Bluetooth, which is restricted to the 2.4 GHz range.
While Wi-Fi is intended for wireless local area network access, Bluetooth is intended for portable equipment and its applications.
While Wi-Fi is used for heavy-bandwidth internet and networking connections between many devices and applications, Bluetooth is predominantly used for a variety of low-latency use cases on a device-to-device basis.
Due to their nature as ad hoc networks, Bluetooth devices do not need a supporting networking infrastructure like cabling, routers, and access points to transfer between devices, unlike Wi-Fi, which relies on the aforementioned infrastructure.
Benefits
Bluetooth has several priceless benefits, such as:
Ability to transfer data between devices without having to use physical media or go through the internet.
ability to quickly transfer large files
Security: Before a connection is made and data is transferred between Bluetooth devices, a code is generated that must be shared between the sending and receiving devices—a process known as pairing. This makes it a secure communication medium.
Security concerns
Depending on the configuration, Bluetooth technology can still be fairly secure. Encryption and key authentication features can be used to secure the Bluetooth network during data transfer. But often times, many Bluetooth devices use short numerical numbers or PINs rather than more secure passwords or codes.
Contrary to popular belief, a Bluetooth network can still be a target for an opportunistic hacker. If someone can use their device to ‘discover’ available Bluetooth devices within range, they may be able to cause significant harm.
Bluesnarfing is one way of breaching a Bluetooth network where an attacker is able to gain confidential information on a Bluetooth-enabled device, which they can either steal or corrupt.
Bluejacking is where an attacker can send unauthorized and unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to other Bluetooth-enabled devices within range.
Bluebugging even goes beyond Bluejacking and Bluebugging and its where an attacker completely takes over a Bluetooth device virtually. They can even initiate phone calls without the phone owner’s knowledge and can use the phone as a bugging device where they can listen to conversations within the phone’s range.
Viruses and malicious code can also take advantage of a Bluetooth network to infect other connected devices. Malware, after infecting a device, can corrupt, manipulate, or steal data.
A social engineering attacker can also use Bluetooth to further their attempts at unauthorized data access.
Safety measures against Bluetooth related attacks
Using Bluetooth in hidden mode is one measure to consider. When in hidden mode, the device is undiscoverable by other devices that might be in range or randomly scanning for an active device to connect to. For new devices, hidden mode will need to be turned off, but once devices have been paired, discoverability can be hidden, and paired devices will still connect to each other.
Unless the Bluetooth-enabled device is actively sending or receiving information from another device, it is best to disable Bluetooth when not in use to minimize the chances of an opportunistic hacker ‘discovering’ the device and trying to connect to it.
Being cognizant of one’s environment is also important. Public places with public Wi-Fi hotspots are where one is most vulnerable to attacks and hacking attempts.
Studying and taking advantage of additional security features that come with some Bluetooth devices, like encryption and authentication, can also act as a buffer between a Bluetooth device and a potential attacker.
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