Bluetooth Security

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timbono1

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1119 23-Feb-2004 02:04

Hi all,

I'm researching a final year project on Bluetooth and was looking into the security issues and concerns that it raises due to its relative new emergence on to the consumer market. Unfortunately I am pretty new to the BT world and am having a few issues understanding various terminology that I have come across on my research.

Can someone explain the following to me:
DUN / LAP / WIDDCOM

I was mainly looking for information as to how information can be securely transmitted and received between devices such as SSL over the internet.

Can SSL be used in conjunction with BT? I have found out that it may have something to do wth the above acronyms if it can hence the reason for things to be explained.

I was also interested in identifying encryption methods used within BT? How does the information get sent between devices? Are there methods in place that prevents the information being used, if the security has been breached?

I have also identified factual info about frequency hopping but am not convinced that this method is entirely safe, surely something can be done to hack into the connections, however fast the hopping may take place? Does anyone have any other resources that could help me formulate a conclusion on this?

I understand that there are many other security related problems/concerns but are there any benefits that BT contains regarding security as this seems to be one of the main drawbacks of the technology.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#3779 23-Feb-2004 07:32

You can start by reading What's Bluetooth, and then downloading the multimedia presentation from this article.

Widcomm is just one of the companies making software drivers for Bluetooth devices. It's the most widely used software, but other companies, like Xtnd Connect also make these softares.

Regarding security, there are lots of talk in the last few weeks (Feb 2004) because of an article on ZDNET UK talking about Bluesnarf, or Snarf Attack. A lot of sites decided to follow suit and republish the articles. Actually all this started again, since this has been already discussed six months before (check an article we published here on Geekzone six months before anyone else).

The "security" issues are related to bad implementation of Bluetooth in a limited number of phones. To actually use one of the attacks described you have to first pair the mobile phone with someone's computer, then remove the pairing.

How improbable is this? You, the user, would have to pair your mobile phone with the attacker's equipment, then remove the pairing. The attacker would have to be around you, at most 10m to be able to connect to the mobile phone and read contents from it. If the attacker really wants the mobile phone Address Book, it's easier to simply steal it!

In terms of encryption, Bluetooth is very secure. Devices must be paired, and the PIN for this is selected by the user. It's then used as part of the input to create a key used between these two devices. This, plus MAC addressese bonding and other tidbits make it very secure, when compared with other wireless technologies.

timbono1

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3936 1-Mar-2004 04:49

hi, i have read the various resources that you kindly provided but was interested in understanding fully more about the possiblity of integrating some kind of secure communication protocol such as SSL or TLS within Bluetooth.

I am interested in perhaps matching networking layers between the 2 technologies so justify their integration and therefore explain how this would work.

Doee anyone have any ideas as to where i could find out this informaiton?

Many thanks in advance,
Tim

timbono1

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3973 3-Mar-2004 06:16

Hi,

I have now decided upon looking into the implementation of IP into Bluetooth so that SSL/TLS can technically be implemented either using IP or even within a VPN using IPsec moving the bulk of the security issues to the responsibility to the VPN and IPsec protocol rather than the individual Bluetooth device.

I would appreciate any advice/help in this matter,

Many thanks in advance,
Tim

Aki

21 posts

Geek

#4010 4-Mar-2004 04:06

cit : "" In terms of encryption, Bluetooth is very secure. Devices must be paired, and the PIN for this is selected by the user. It's then used as part of the input to create a key used between these two devices. This, plus MAC addressese bonding and other tidbits make it very secure, when compared with other wireless technologies. " from freitasm.

ok mate, the PIN can't be change right? usually they are 0000 or 1111 so by pair the device is easy

or maybe u can tell me how to change the code in ericsson r520 or platronic 3000 headset ?

cheers

freitasm

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#4011 4-Mar-2004 07:15

It depends on what devices we're talking about. To pair a mobile phone and computer or PDA you enter the PIN of choice in both devices. So a person would have to have a mobile phone in the hands to pair with a PDA to make use of its GPRS capabilities, for instance.

It's not the case with devices without user interface. Headsets and mouse are good example. Even so you can't say it's a big security risk to have someone pairing with a headset, which only allows one pairing at a time.

You may have to agree that would by far more dangerous to have not changeable default PIN in mobile phones and LAN Access Points than headsets.

Depending on what mobile phone you have you can actually change a headset's PIN. Try using the Sony Ericsson T39m or T68i with some headsets and you'll see a new menu option in your phone. I have a HBH-15 in my list of goodies and it's not using the default 0000 PIN.