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'BlueBag' PC Sniffs Out Bluetooth Flaws

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the next-door-neighbors dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Why isn't Bluetooth set to "hidden" in all of Nokia's phones? Some hackers in Italy stuffed a computer with a bunch of Bluetooth dongles in a suitcase to see how many Bluetooth devices they could discover by wandering around airports, train stations and shopping malls. The answer? More than 1,400 in 23 hours." The team will present their findings at BlackHat later this summer.

3 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Discovery is not pairing by wish+bot · · Score: 5, Insightful
    That's great, but how many could they actually pair with?

    Ohh...none?!

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    lemonade was a popular drink and it still is
    1. Re:Discovery is not pairing by mlk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you rename your device to "Nokia Download Center: Snake Superupdate aviable, type 1234 for this free update"(1) I wonder how many people would blindly tap it in, and bond with you. But to be honest, I'm not really sure what you could do then over Bluetooth.

      Mmm. Bonding.

      My computer (in a 2nd floor flat) will every now and again get Bluetooth bonding requests, and popups welling me that I've connected to someones PIM (until I turned it off).

      1) Or "Free PORN!" equivalent.

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      Wow, I should not post when knackered.
  2. Re:NOT a dongle! by mjh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem is that language doesn't work that way. All of us, as a group, are in control of language. Words that were intended for one context frequently apply to all kinds of other contexts. And people gravitate towards analogies. So the "dongle" that you speak of, works very well as an analogy for a bluetooth peripheral. Pretty soon, "dongle" means any sort of thing you plug into a PC that sticks out the end.

    It is very difficult to keep people from using words the way that they want to. This is the motivation behind trademark laws. Once the mass decides that a word (e.g. kleenex or xerox) means something more than the specific original intention, the game is up. I believe that dongle has passed that threshold.

    So you can continue, in a Quixote-esque manner, to try and steer people back to the single specific meaning of dongle. But I don't think you'll succeed. And I think you're likely to get very frustrated. But if that's what you want to do, have at it!

    --
    Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.