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Bluetooth – A door for Mobile Phone Hackers

By Robert | September 22, 2007

Bluetooth wireless is becoming a feature that is quite common on mobile devices. Well, users need to know the fact that this can bring security vulnerabilities. This was the announcement made by Symantec.

Thanks to a study by InsightExpress we can see that 73% of mobile device users are not at all familiar with the security risks linked to Bluetooth, including bluejacking, bluebugging and bluesnarfing. According to Ooi Szu-Khiam, senior consultant at Symantec Singapore, DOS attacks are very possible and one individual can even tamper with your phone and listen to your conversations. There are many viruses, Trojans and worms that will attack mobile phones, no matter how seemingly remote they seem. Such threats have destroyed valuable information on personal computers but so far, they are still not advanced enough to attack mobile phones in a similar fashion. Unfortunately, according to Ooi, the rapid evolution of these threats is an “obvious cause for concern”.

Bluejacking is better known as bluespamming. This technique will send an anonymous text message to a mobile phone by utilizing Bluetooth. If you receive such a message you can read it, delete it or even respond, so it is pretty much like e-mail spam. Bluesnarfing can be dangerous because it will allow an individual to have access to information stored on one’s cell phone. The bad part is that you, the user, will have no idea that somebody is tinkering with your info. Good hackers can even find a mobile phone equipped with Bluetooth when the user will put it in “nondiscovery” mode. Bluebugging is even more dangerous as it allows the hacker to gain access to mobile phone commands. Again, it is all done via Bluetooth and the owner will not have a clue as to what is happening. The only good news is that the hacker needs to be in a vicinity of around 10 meters in order to perform any of the three attacks mentioned above. In any case, you can still be a victim in a pub while having a conversation with a friend so it is all quite scary.

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