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Bluetooth: Your smartphone (and wallet?) can be tracked!

 


Smartphone locations can be tracked using broadcast Bluetooth signals. However, recent research also shows that it is not trivial.


A group of researchers from the University of San Diego in California has shown that smartphones, and therefore people, can be tracked via Bluetooth. The identification of the smartphone is possible because a chipset is installed during production, which received a physical fingerprint during production. In order to be able to carry out the attack, a so-called software defined radio sniffer is required. These radio receivers can record raw signals. The attack is possible because every smartphone emits so-called Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. These signals are sent continuously and are used, for example, for contact tracing. During manufacture, these beacons and Wi-Fi are integrated into the same chip. Since Wi-Fi requires a unique identification of the device,


However, in the practical implementation of the attack, some challenges arise. The clear identification not only depends on the built-in chipset in the smartphone to be tracked, but also on the devices in the immediate vicinity. The different transmission powers of Android smartphones and iPhones, the temperature of the devices and the quality of the radio signals are also important. The researchers found that some devices have a very specific fingerprint and are therefore easy to identify. Other smartphones, on the other hand, use a very similar fingerprint and are therefore difficult to identify, especially in busy environments. Bluetooth therefore poses a fundamental threat to location tracking. However, it is extremely difficult for the attacker to identify and pursue the right goal. The researchers therefore do not assume that there will be such attacks in the future.


In principle, security problems in connection with Bluetooth are nothing new. There have been attacks on Tesla cars, among other things. These gave the attackers access to the cars. Many other electronic devices have also been attacked. There are currently no real security mechanisms available with the technology. It could be that Bluetooth will be replaced by another technology in the near future. However, it is questionable whether there will not be security gaps there as well.

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