I’ve got a question about Bluetooth security. When I’m sitting at home and want to type little bit more on L5 I switch on Bluetooth on my keyboard and L5. Now I realized that I never asked myself how secure it is, especially if I type in passwords etc.
First of all I know at least about tracking issues on some specific devices. Let’s ignore this thing, since it is device specific and not relevant at home. The other thing is the proprietary drivers for Bluetooth. Theoretically the code could do anything. But let’s trust them for the moment.
But how about the Bluetooth specifications in general? Is the signal encrypted (in a good way)? Is it more or less secure compared to W-Lan? What are other potential dangers?
Edit: The answer does not need to be my own case specific - it was more an example. I just don’t want to speak about the 2 related things, I mentioned above (but if someone wants to speak about for their own, please do it).
I think the danger depends on what you use it for. The case of a bluetooth keyboard that you mentioned is dangerous because you are trusting a proprietary, potentially malicious device by giving it info about everything you type, and that proprietary device is capable of radio communication so you can’t really know if it is logging all your keystrokes and sending them off to some other device.
So I’d say don’t use a bluetooth keyboard if you are going to type anything sensitive, and don’t use bluetooth headphones if you are going to listen to anything sensitive. If you just listen to the radio then maybe you don’t care so much, but for an “encrypted” phonecall that was supposed to be confidential, the unencrypted audio could leak that way.
I want to know little bit more about the tech side/specifications (but not in a nerdy way, else I will understand nothing). I can decide if I take risks or not if I know where they’re. And as I said above, I know the risks of proprietary stuff, but that’s not the only danger of tech.
In general, it’s not the most secure but it’s about your risk profile how secure you need and how you use it. Probably the most important security feature of BT is that it’s low power and short distance (quickly borrowing from a commercial site):
Encryption – All audio transfers are encrypted using encryption keys generated during the pairing process [but this encryption is not quaranteed with older BT versions and it’s not clear what your specific device would use]. The purpose of encryption is to protect the confidentiality of digital data transmitted between parties and preventing eavesdropping and unauthorised data access from third parties.
Intelligent Power – During the Bluetooth pairing process the power and range of the Bluetooth is reduced significantly. This makes helps protect devices from ‘man in the middle’ type attacks by making it extremely difficult to gain access without being in very close proximity.
Short Paring Window – Headsets [and other devices] are only discoverable for a short window during pairing. After that they turn off access until reactivated by the user. This means that the gaining access to pair with headset outside of this window is next to impossible without physical access to the devices.
So, you’re not insecure as such, but if you live in densely populated area/buildings (close to other people behind walls), don’t trust your environment and think you could be targeted, maybe consider using wired.
This kinda leads to another security point: if you have to keep BT open for keyboards and/or headphones, your security problem wouldn’t be just the connection with those or what’s transmitted but potential attacks to your computer via BT. It’s a beacon waiting for connection attempts. And speaking of beacons, there are ways to build amplified receivers/antennas for longer distance connections. It was already a decade ago that it was demonstrated that phone BT can be used to spy 3D location of persons in a building from some 100m/300ft. The “applied risks” are something that often go overlooked.
The first question then would be: did you have to enter a PIN in order to pair the Bluetooth peripheral?
If you live in a radio-busy area … consider a wired keyboard or a wired lapdock.
Bluetooth pairing may be OK if you can pair first in a radio-silent area (i.e. hundreds of metres away from anything) and the two ends will remember a link key.
Yes
Less.
One thing that I would wonder about, when you have many protocol versions and a history of plenty of security issues, is whether downgrade attacks are possible and whether you can defend against them.
And (… there often is, if there’s no “but”, it seems ) just to expand, there are a lot of devices - particularly mice and keyboards - that use BT freg range but are not BT. And they are not that secure despite maybe having AES encryption (and even the old vulnerabilities may be unpached). Here are a few more links about Logitech and Microsoft products as examples:
It’s not something that you control. It either happens or it doesn’t. But if it does happen, that is somewhat more secure than if it doesn’t. The determining factor for whether it happens is usually whether the peripheral is physically capable of supporting the entry of a PIN. For example, Bluetooth speakers typically can’t do that, while a Bluetooth keyboard obviously can. A car typically can although on older cars, that was a somewhat laborious (one-off) process.
) just to expand, there are a lot of devices - particularly mice and keyboards - that use BT freg range but are not BT. And they are not that secure despite maybe having AES encryption (and even the old vulnerabilities may be unpached). Here are a few more links about Logitech and Microsoft products as examples: