Bluetooth Security Threats And Solutions: A Survey

Abstract

Bluetooth technology has become an integral part of this modern society. The availability of mobile phones, game controllers, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and personal computers has made Bluetooth a popular technology for short range wireless communication. However, as the Bluetooth technology becomes widespread, vulnerabilities in its security protocols are increasing which can be potentially dangerous to the privacy of a user's personal information. The security issues of Bluetooth have been an active area of research for the last few years. This paper presents the vulnerabilities in the security protocols of this technology along with some past security threats and possible countermeasures as reported in the literatures which have been surveyed and summarized in this paper. It also presents some tips that end-users can implement immediately to become more cautious about their private information. Finally, the paper concludes with some recommendations for future security enhancements that can be implemented in the Bluetooth standard.

Smart Door Lock System: Improving Home Security using Bluetooth Technology

“…As bluetooth has become widespread there are various vulnerabilities in the security protocols of bluetooth. It also mentions some tips to the end user so that they become more cautious about their private information [5]. Smart home domain is a new trendy way of home automation and energy conservation.…”

Attack-Graph Threat Modeling Assessment of Ambulatory Medical Devices

“…For example, BlueSnarfing is described in literature as "the software tools required to steal information from Bluetooth enabled mobile phones (that) are widely available in the Web" [24], therefore an "equipment" node would be assigned a higher weight because it is easily achieved. Figure 2 is an example attack graph on the theoretical device.…”

“…The sensors communicate through a wireless signal to a cellular smart phone which runs an application that processes, analyzes, and stores the data. [24] Pairing Eavesdropping Pair as little as possible, Link encryption, Set device to lowest power The application allocates a specific amount of memory for data storage and uploads the data to cloud storage when needed. Doctors have access to the cloud storage for data analysis.…”

Bluetooth Command and Control channel

“…One of the steps taken by Bluetooth developers to improve the security surrounding Bluetooth connections is by including a process called pairing. The process of pairing refers to a trusted relationship between two devices which are formed by secret codes, also known as pins (Minar and Tarique, 2012). The purpose behind this process is to create a custom link key that will allow for secure communication between devices (Gehrmann and Nyber, 2001).…”