8.2.1: Bluetooth

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Bluetooth is a WCT that uses short range radio signals and allows the exchange of information between a fixed and mobile device. The network which is established using Bluetooth technology is called Personal Area Network (PAN). When two (2) Bluetooth enables devices (one could be fixed and other mobile) come within the range of each other then one of the devices becomes “Master” and the other becomes “Slave”. The Master controls the overall communication and gives the instructions to the slave. The slave executes the instructions and returns the output. In the Bluetooth enabled car audio system, the cell phone acts as master while the car speakers act as slave. There are three (3) common Bluetooth security attacks; Bluejacking, Bluejacking and Bluebugging. The detailed description of these attacks is presented as follows:

Bluejacking: Bluejacking is more of an annoying attack (rather than a harmful), in bluejacking, the attacker sends the unsolicited messages to the nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices. The bluejacking attack just displays a message on the victim’s device screen and does not make any connection with the remote device (Bluetooth device).
Bluesnarfing: Bluesnarfing is a harmful attack in which, the attacker establishes a connection with the nearby Bluetooth-enabled device without the victim’s knowledge and accesses the internal data of the device. The attacker can copy the phone contacts, recent call logs, messages, emails and even the pictures stored on the device.
Bluebugging: The most harmful attack as compared to other Bluetooth attacks is Bluebugging, in a bluebugging attack, the attacker first establishes a silent connection (without owner’s knowledge) with the victim’s device (e.g. Social Engineering techniques). After successful connection, the attacker installs a backdoor (malware) to bypass the authentication schemes and finally takes full control of the device. After having the full control over the device, the attacker can make phone calls from the victim’s device, activate call forwarding, change passwords or patterns and make copy the pictures or videos etc.