May 10, 2004
Some security concerns about Bluetooth...
Bluetooth, that wireless networking technology which allows computers, mobile phones and other devices to communicate apparently has some security concerns, namely bluesnarfing and bluejacking. And don't forget that British pastime of toothing.
Not that I would know, even though I own a spiffy PowerBook running OS X Panther, my wireless provider does not offer Bluetooth ready phones.
Bluejacking is not a security threat, it's just a clever way of pushing out a message to other phones, making it an annoyance at best.
IIRC, Bluesnarfing only affects a few Bluetooth chipsets on the market, such as Nokia's, and even then I believe it requires the device to be set discoverable, which most people don't do.
The 'network security' issues of Bluetooth are way overblown, since the vulnerable devices (i.e. phones) don't act as network devices, and its range is so short that anyone who's able to grab stuff from a device over Bluetooth would theoretically be able to physically access it anyway. I mean, sure, don't put a Bluetooth dongle on a computer which is tucked away inside a locked cabinet, but I don't think it's really the big security fuss which various "experts" are making it out to be.
Posted by: fluffy at May 10, 2004 10:08 PM