Bluetooth Security Breach: Millions of Devices At Risk – Here’s What You Need To Know!
Bluetooth is an important part of using gadgets like smartwatches, wireless headphones and speakers. But it seems that the feature has faced major security issues for more than a decade, which may scare you.
New security reports claim that Bluetooth versions 4.2 and above are vulnerable to hijacking, meaning that attackers can gain access to these devices if they can bypass the flaw and gain control of the device. Of greater concern is that Apple’s popular wireless file transfer tool, AirDrop, has also been plagued by these flaws.
Security researchers have discovered this huge problem with Bluetooth-enabled devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. They created six new attacks to determine the extent of the problem that were previously unknown, so we don’t even know if anyone has been exploited using this issue or will be targeted in the near future.
The Bluetooth security problem: what we can tell
Bluetooth sharing is made secure with secret keys that help pair with another device. These keys are also used to authenticate the origin of the sender and ensure that both have the same keys. One of the security flaws allows attackers to crack these keys through decryption, giving them control over how or what they want to share between devices via Bluetooth.
Such capabilities allow attackers to impersonate another device without alerting, even with AirDrop transfers. They can also intercept any file transfer and take a copy of the data you might share with another device.
Bluetooth bug: This affects these devices
Based on the details of the Bluetooth security issue, it appears that devices that support Bluetooth version 4.2 (released in December 2014) to Bluetooth 5.4 (released in February this year) are vulnerable to these attacks. The biggest concern about this problem is that experts don’t know if a software patch can fool millions of devices from being at risk.
Despite this, it is recommended that people use Bluetooth on their phone, tablet or laptop. Never publicly share files with unknown Bluetooth links and should turn off Bluetooth when not needed.
