Are you Bluetooth-secure?
By Michael Mullins CCNA, MCP, Special to ZDNet Asia
Thursday, April 21, 2005 09:53 AM
Thursday, April 21, 2005 09:53 AM
In a recent article, I discussed additional
security measures that organizations can implement to secure mobile devices,
such as PDAs. However, it's important that companies realize that mobile
computing isn't restricted to PDAs and wireless laptops. In fact, another form
of wireless device could be inside your network right now, and you're probably
unaware of it. I'm talking about Bluetooth-enabled devices.
Bluetooth devices operate on the unlicensed 2.4-GHz ISM band of frequencies. By design, Bluetooth can operate in this noisy environment by frequency-hopping to avoid interference from other signals after transmitting or receiving a packet of information.
While Bluetooth has been around for a few years, the technology is beginning to come into its own. More and more vendors are embedding Bluetooth technology into a multitude of different mobile devices. Wireless phones and headsets are the most popular devices, but you can also find Bluetooth technology in printers, PDAs, and laptops.
Understand the security threats
Most security administrators couldn't tell you if any Bluetooth-enabled devices exist on their networks or if any users access their networks using Bluetooth-enabled devices. And as cell phone viruses become more prevalent, this could pose problems to organizations' overall security.
In fact, Bluetooth technology is vulnerable to a number of different attack methods:
- Bluesnarfing—stealing data stored on a Bluetooth-enabled device
- Bluejacking—sending anonymous messages to a Bluetooth-enabled device
- Bluebugging—forcing a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone to place a call
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