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Spammed by Bluetooth
An Anonymous Reader writes "BBC News is reporting a new craze - using Bluetooth to send unsolicited messages. Apparently lots of phone owners are leaving Bluetooth switched on, meaning that anyone within range can send a short message. The phenomenon is known as "bluejacking". It's not clear at present that this is being done by anyone other than pranksters, but one can't help wondering, how long before commercial spammers catch on."
While I'm sure this could become a major problem in the future if it reaches critical mass, the beauty of Bluetooth is that it's designed for personal area networks. So, although it's bluetooth spam, it shouldn't reach anyone farther than 30 feet away from you or so. This by itself will make bluetooth spam a little harder to operate than just SMS or email spam.
:)
Unless, of course, Microsoft makes a smartphone that has Outlook on it and bluetooth as an option...
The PIN is used when pairing two devices. There are a variety of other options which require no such authorization to send things from phone to phone.
With my T616, I can create a note and then send that note to another phone via bluetooth whether I'm paired with that device or not.
they're sending an address book entry, with the message they wish to send as the "name" of the contact.
We've been doing this for ages in the UK. See here for Andy's way of doing it ;)
Smegma.
When the Sony Ericcson's came out with bluetooth they made them come with the bluetooth turned off by default. When Nokia came out with their bluetooth phones they had them ship with it on by default. Soon on the Sony Ericson message boards people found they could discover the nokia's in a crowded place (movie theaters, etc.) and you could create a contact in you contact list and then send them that contact. This has the benifit that you message is actually the contact name which the person on the recieving end will actually see first so they don't have to click OK and then get the message...it's already there. Anyhow, it's much better in Europe for this type of thing as they've had GSM phone and associated cool features such as bluetooth for quite some time while America is just starting to catch on. I've done discoveries with mine and never had any success connecting or seeing any other bluetooth activated phone that wasn't purposly turned on for the connection. I wonder if Nokia has caught on and is leaving bluetooth off on their America bound phones.
It's not just the PIN you need.. you can also set the device to be discoverable, or hidden. It needs to be discoverable in order to pair with another device, but once that's done, you can set it to hidden and only the "paired" devices know it's there. Any other BT device won't be able to see it. And you can't pair devices (except for some headset profiles) without exchanging a PIN.
Both ends would need to have their power boosted, as the master/slave radio frequency hopping nature of bluetooth requires that each end can reach the other. i.e you need to hand shake to get a message across, you can't just wave like with FM radio.
Blue tooth is a remarkably secure system requiring PIN numbers and autentication to do any form of connection.
:O
WHat is actually happening here is the OBEX transfer part is beign utilised. Any Bluetooth phone that is set to discoverable will accept certain OBEX information (usually just vCards, and vCal files, and maybe notes). The phone ideally will accept the information and ask the user if he/she woudl liek the add the recieved infomation into their phonebook/calendar/notes. it is EXACTLY like the beam facility of Palm units, and others, just using Bluetooth for non-line of sight transfers.
What people do in "BlueJacking" is create a dummy addressbook entry, and send it to the unsuspecting user (usually Nokia users.. more on that later). I did it beofre once, when i was at a resteraunt and this idiot with a Nokia camera phoen was showing off and making a nuisence in front of some girls he was entertaining. So i sent a address "vCard" with the name "Stop Playing with yr BRICK" from my phone to his (his phone was discovered as "poser"?!!?!??!?!) SHoudl haev seen the look on his face.. especially in front of the girls..
However (unless you are a Nokia 7650/6310i/6xxx user) You have nothign to worry. Most phoens ship with bluetooth off or in none discoverable mode. The SOny Ericssons only stay "discoverable" for a maximum of three minuites. The blueJackign craze started in the (Sony)Ericsson community when it was discovered some (if not most) Nokia Bluetooth phones were shipped default with Bluetooth on and discoverable, so it was a prank to those users!
As was pointed out, it is extremely easy to make a phoen none discoverable, and most ppl have cottoned on.
So as for "spam" via blue tooh, it isnt going to happen, unless you are EXTREMELY stupid... then again..... there is a hell of a lot of stupid people
Have a nice day!
close, but no cigar. Bluetooth requires 2way communication. The devices on the recieving end don't have the power the set up a connection.
Last time I checked, a directional antenna works both ways. Has something changed that make the directional antenna provide gain when transmitting and not when receiving?
Think about it. The Dish antenna on top of houses for TV are to receive a weak signal, not send a signal.
A can antenna would not only increase your transmit range but also increase the receive range. I see no reason a cantenna would not work on one end to increase the 2 way connection.
Have I missed anything?
The truth shall set you free!
You are right and the grand-parent post is wrong. A directional antenna is bidirectional -- it both directs power to toward the distant reciever and amplifies power from a distant transmitter. If this was not true, then cantennas would not work for Wifi because Wifi, like bluetooth, requires bidirectional communications.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Not easily. I use exactly the technology you're describing. The phone must be paired with the PC to use the phone's modem (a.k.a. dial-up networking) profile. Also, it's not IP data going over the bluetooth connection. It's what would go over a serial cable to an external modem.
At least in Copenhagen this phenomenon is quite common. It seems, every other time I get in a taxi I get a bluetooth transmitted business card from the company or sometimes specifically the driver of the taxi. The first time this happened it was a slightly novel new thing I didn't mind much - but now I find myself cursing the people who implemented this standard for not doing it like on Palm where you have to 'accept' the infrared beamed cards. On the Nokia cellphones it's just stored without question so if this practice gets more widespread, soon your address book will be seriously burdened with unwanted business cards. Just finding them will be a big hassle. That's when you switch off bluetooth I guess.