Consumer Security Alert: Hands-Free Bluetooth Devices Unsecure
Posted by gasusan2005 on 08/14/07 in Security, Wifi / Bluetooth
TraceSecurity, a leading provider of on-demand security compliance management solutions, announced today that its CTO and co-founder, Jim Stickley, has demonstrated how conversations that take place in the privacy of your car can be monitored and or recorded by exploiting weaknesses in some Bluetooth hands free devices. During today’s broadcast of NBC’s TODAY Show, Jim Stickley demonstrated how some hands free car devices that employ Bluetooth technology are vulnerable to the most simple of attacks. As seen on the segment, the attacks allowed Stickley to access the communication over Bluetooth from a remote location and listen in to conversations that were taking place by car passengers.
“These types of vulnerabilities have been around for a number of years and what is surprising is that a number of new products on the market are still vulnerable to these types of attacks,” said Jim Stickley, CTO and co-founder of TraceSecurity. “When purchasing a hands-free device users should verify that the device is not always in pairing mode but instead requires the user to press a button to activate the pairing mode. Also when possible change the pin to something other than the default. For users who already have these insecure devices the best advice is to leave them off or unplugged except when needed.”
During testing with the NBC TODAY Show, Stickley followed a few car lengths behind a car that was equipped with a hands-free Bluetooth device and listened in on the conversation taking place by the vehicle occupants. The test showed that not only could Stickley access the communication occurring over Bluetooth technology and hear the conversation, but that the occupants of the car had no warning or indication Stickley had accessed the hands-free Bluetooth device and was listening in.
To find out more about this story, visit TraceSecurity
Source:TraceSecurity press release
Written by gasusan2005 · Filed Under Security, Wifi / Bluetooth
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