BlueJacking Vs BlueSnarfing: How Safe Is BlueTooth?

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Blue tooth is a short-range communication technology that allows devices to send and receive information.  There are two attacks that hackers like to perform on Bluetooth devices, bluejacking and bluesnarfing.

Bluejacking

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Luckily bluejacking is relatively harmless.  The main goal of bluejacking is to annoy you.  So you may receive pictures or messages via Bluetooth that are unsolicited  Since the attack is conducted via Bluetooth the culprit can’t be too far away.  So just look for someone who can’t stop staring at you and giggling incessantly.

Bluesnarfing

jens-johnsson-685540-unsplash This attack wants to do a lot more than annoy you.  A bluesnarfing attack steals confidential information from the victim.  That means usernames, passwords, pins the whole shabang!  This happens without the user being aware of what’s happening.

Prevention

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You can prevent yourself from being a victim of these types of attacks by:

  • Making your Bluetooth device undiscoverable to others Bluetooth devices
  • Setting up a strong pin for Bluetooth connectivity
  • Turn off Bluetooth whenever it’s not in use

Want to learn more?

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