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A review of Bluetooth Technology

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35146.99522

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 A review of Bluetooth Technology
Fatin Israq Tabib

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Independent University, Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Email: [email protected],

Abstract - Bluetooth is primarily utilized for

communication between wireless Personal Area
Network (PANs). It could be a broadly utilized and date, is thirty feet or ten meters. It could be a
persuasive application for sending information from one combination of computer program (software) and
device to another. It empowers clients to make ad hoc equipment innovation (hardware). The equipment
network for information exchange between a wide innovation (hardware) part is riding on a radio chip.
extend of gadgets. Bluetooth's current information On the other hand, the computer program (software)
transmission rate is 1 megabits per second utilizing FSK.
most control and security conventions. By utilizing
Bluetooth signals are Omni-directional, so gadgets
both equipment innovation (hardware) and
ought not to be pointed at each other. Our day by day
gadgets like phone, wireless headset, smart home computer program (software) Bluetooth has ended
application, security framework, Bluetooth car packs up a shrewd innovation for proficient and adaptable
etc. all utilize Bluetooth. However, as Bluetooth remote communication system. Now a days it’s an
innovation gets to be more broadly utilized, security important topic among all wireless developers.
imperfections within the innovation are getting to be
more visit, causing extreme harm to users' individual Bluetooth gadgets are low-power and have a
information. The matching gadgets play a basic part in run of 10 meter remove from the gadget. Now a days
anticipating such unauthorized get to from secure Bluetooth innovation is the usage of the convention
contact. This paper talks about that how Bluetooth characterized by the IEEE 802.15 standard. The
technology work and also talks about effective security standard characterizes a wireless PAN (Personal
measures which can be included to avoid undesirable Area Network) operable in a zone of the measure of
malevolent assaults and information lose whereas
a room or a lobby. It may be a convention of choice
utilizing Bluetooth technology.
to associate two or more gadgets that are not in
Keywords – Bluetooth blending, application, Bluetooth coordinate line of locate to each other. A security
core protocol, Bluetooth security, authentication, affiliation between two gadgets can be associated
Bluetooth vulnerabilities, Bluetooth security attacks, physically by matching the client entered common
Bluetooth security modes PIN (Personal Identification Number) number to
each of the gadgets. When two gadgets endeavor to
associate, unique key is created based on the PIN
I. INTRODUCTION number entered on both the gadgets.
Bluetooth is a wireless technology having The Bluetooth determination is an open
exceptionally brief extend outlined enabling detail that is governed by the Bluetooth Special
communication between the gadgets. It is designed Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth details give for
by Ericsson in 1994. It named after the 10th Century three essential security administrations. [1]
Danish King Harold Bluetooth. It could be a short
run radio connect outlined to put through portable or  Authentication: Confirming the character
settled electronic devices. The compelling extend, to of communicating gadgets based on their
Bluetooth gadget address.
  Confidentiality: Ensuring data from
eavesdropping by guaranteeing that as it
were authorized gadgets can get to and see
transmitted information.
 Authorization: This process permitting the
control of assets by ensuring that a gadget
is authorized to utilize a benefit some time
recently allowing it to do so.

There are many security issue on Bluetooth

technology. At whatever point a gadget tries to
connect to put through to another gadget, a
Bluetooth user has the ability to select in case they
needs to associate or not. Unless higher security is
covered, all transmission of important information
over Bluetooth would be rash.
Fig 1: Bluetooth application [3]
II. SOME BLUETOOTH APLICATION

The earliest application of Bluetooth that became

popular was Remote control of and communication
between a mobile phone and a hand-free headset. [2]
Remote control of and communication between a
mobile phone and a Bluetooth consistent car stereo
system. Exchange of records, contact points of
interest, calendar appointments, and updates
between gadgets. Remote communication with PC
input and output devices, the foremost common Fig 2: Bluetooth application [4]
being the mouse, keyboard and Printer. Remote
control of and communication with tablets and
speakers such as iPad and Android gadgets. Remote
III. BLUETOOTH MODULE
communication for low transmission capacity
applications where higher USB bandwidth isn't The Bluetooth Module conveys openings for quick
required and cable-free connection desired. Remote ad hoc associations and the plausibility of
communication for exchange information records, programmed, unconscious, connections between
recordings, and pictures and MP3 or MP4. Dial-up WPCOMs. The module may be a completely
web get to on individual computers or PDAs using a Bluetooth compliant gadget for data communication
data-capable portable phone as a remote modem. with a transmission control of up to +8dBm and
The caller can be connected to the airline’s possess recipient sensibility of down to -83dBm combined
arrange association through the wireless local zone with low control utilization. The Bluetooth Module
arrange (LAN) [2]. Within the short-range may be a low power implanted Bluetooth v2.0+EDR
transmission of information from sensors gadgets to module with a built-in high output radio wire.
sensor hubs.

Fig 3: Bluetooth module circuit [5]

 IV. BLUETOOTH PROTOCOL STACKS Cable replacement protocol:

A protocol stack could be a combination of software  RFCOMM: It provides

or hardware implementation of the genuine protocol emulations of RS232 details over
indicated within the standard. Bluetooth the L2CAP protocol. [9]
employments an assortment of protocol. Core
protocols are characterized by Bluetooth SIG. Extra
protocols have been embraced from other bodies. [6]

Bluetooth protocol figure,

Adopted protocol:

 Point to Point Protocol (PPP)

 Internet Protocol (IP)
 User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
 Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP)
 Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP)
 Object Exchange (OBEX)

Fig 4: Bluetooth protocol stacks [7]

V. BLUETOOTH NETWORK CONNECTION
Bluetooth core protocol:
There are a variety of ways in which Bluetooth
 Bluetooth radio: It defines counting systems can be set up. Piconets and Scatternet are
recurrence, the air interface, modulation one of them. The fundamental unit of Bluetooth
conspire, recurrence hopping and organizing may be a piconet. The terms piconet and
transmission control. [8] scatternet are ordinarily connected to Bluetooth
 Baseband: This protocol defines packet wireless innovation.
frame format, addressing, timing and
power control. [8]  Piconet: It’s a Bluetooth network that can
 Link manager protocol (LMP): It have up to eight stations, one of which is
establishes the connect setup between called as master and the rest are called as
Bluetooth gadgets and oversees continuous slaves. The master hub is the essential
joins, counting security viewpoints like station that oversees the little network. In
verification and encryption, control and figure 4, the laptop computer is called the
arrangement of baseband packet size. [8] master hub and the other gadgets are called
 Logical link control and adaptation as a slave.
protocol (L2CAP): This protocol adopts
upper layer to the baseband layer. Gives
both connection-oriented and
connectionless services. [8]
 Service discovery protocol (SDP): SDP
handles administrations, gadget
information and questions for service
Characteristics between two or more
Bluetooth gadgets. [8]

Telephony protocol:

 TCS BIN: That protocol

characterizes the call control
signaling for the foundation of
Fig 5: Piconet [10]
voice and data calls between
Bluetooth gadgets. [6]
  Scatternet: It is a type of Bluetooth
network that is formed by two or more Mode 3:
piconets. There are three types of node in Before establishing a fully physical link a
scatternet which is master node, slave node Bluetooth device generates security procedures.
and bridge node. In scatternet there must This mode supports authentication and encryption.
be at least two piconots. In figure 5, the While two Bluetooth devices are interacting. When
middle laptop computer is the bridge and a user puts an identical PIN into both devices during
also a master node between two piconet. the initialization process, two associated devices
Laptop computer may be a master in one simultaneously derive connection keys, as per the
piconet and a slave in another. Bluetooth specification. Devices automatically
authenticate and encrypt the link after the
initialization is complete. In Figure 1, the PIN entry,
unit association, and main formulation are
conceptually portrayed. The Bluetooth device pin
codes vary between 1 to 16 bytes. For some
application-digit PIN may be enough. But, longer
code is always recommended.

Fig 6: Scatternet [10]

VI. BLUETOOTH SECURITY

 Bluetooth security modes:

Bluetooth establishes a connection between devices

that uses optional pre-shared key authentication and
algorithms that are considered powerful when used Fig 7: Bluetooth Generation key from PIN [12]
properly. Bluetooth security is primarily based on
the randomness and length of the passkey used Mode 4:
during the initial communication. The settings for . Security mode 2 and 4 are similar.
discoverability and connect-ability are also crucial Like security 2 mode security 4 is also a service
level enforced security mode. But this mode can
in security strength. Depending on various versions
be used only by Bluetooth devices that can use
of Bluetooth, there are 4 security modes. These
Secure Simple Pairing (SSP) [13] SSP uses
modes are:-
Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH) for key
exchange and key generation. In this mode,
Mode 1: hashing is conducted with SHA-256, and
This mode is non-secure. The Bluetooth encryption is done through AES CCM. [11]
doesn’t use any kind of mechanism to stop other
Bluetooth-establishing connections. Any Bluetooth  Bluetooth security procedures:
gadget can connect to it.
In terms of security procedures, there are mainly
Mode 2: 3 steps. These steps are:
Before creating a connection, a Bluetooth
system does not initiate security procedures. This  Authorization: Authorization is a
security mode is a service level enforced mode process of accepting and denying
[11].The central security manager keeps track of access to a network resource.
access control policies and communicates with other  Authentication: It entails proving one
protocols and users. Security mode 2 is supported by Transceiver device's identity to
all Bluetooth gadgets. another. The authentication procedure's
 aim is to figure out how much access messages, and access data without the
the client has. The link keys are used to consent of the owner.
verify the authentication. To generate a
signed answer authentication result, the 3. Blueover Attack: By using only
sender encrypts the receiver's software called Blueover or Blueover II
Bluetooth device address with the in a phone Blueover attack can steal
connection key and a random number data secretly. Blueover attack can be
(SRES). If the two link keys are done only if the device is vulnerable to
identical, the SRES is sent to the BlueBugging.
recipient, and the connection is created. 4. Denial of Service (DoS): Users may be
 Optional Encryption: It's the process denied access to a service by either
of encoding details sent between making it inaccessible or severely
Bluetooth devices in such a way that restricting its availability to registered
eavesdroppers can't understand it. users. Attackers can block calls or
Encryption is a vital part of Bluetooth switch off the Bluetooth of the user.
security. The encryption key size can
range from 8 to 128 bits. 5. Car Whisperer: Car Whisperer is a
software application that allows
hackers to transmit and receive audio
VII. BLUETOOTH VULNERABILITIES from a Bluetooth-enabled car stereo.
[14]
Despite having several benefits of Bluetooth
there are some risks also and the risks are 6. Bluesmack Attack: This attack is
increasing. To prevent these threats Bluetooth comparable to a denial-of-service
security architecture has to be upgraded (DoS) attack. This attack is carried out
constantly. Bluetooth transmission can be on IP-based machines. Using L2CAP
jammed or intercepted like any other wireless echo messages, this is a buffer overflow
communication system. Hackers or attack [15]
cybercriminals can deliberately mislead the
recipient. Bluetooth security is now a great 7. MAC spoofing: While Piconets are
concern. Active researches are going on in both being generated, malicious attackers
academia and industry. Security risks such as can perform MAC spoofing during the
disclosure and privacy attacks usually expose link key generation. Assuming, the
confidential data and can therefore be pretty attack is performed before successful
harmful. DoS attacks, on the other hand, usually pairing and encryption, attackers can
harass Bluetooth network users and are easily intercept data meant for other
considered less dangerous. Using powerful devices. Long, random, and variable
directional antennas in almost any kind of PIN codes are suggested [13]
Bluetooth device will greatly increase its
scanning, eavesdropping, and attacking range. 8. BlueSnarfing: Without the owner's
consent, attackers can access the data.

VIII. BLUETOOTH SECURITY ATTACKS 9. Cabir Worm: It's a sort of malicious

software that searches for and sends
Amidst all of the defense mechanisms in place, itself to available Bluetooth devices
using Bluetooth could lead to exploits and data using Bluetooth technology. The Cabir
loss from the device through the methods listed worm illustrates that writing mobile
below:- viruses that spread through Bluetooth is
possible, which can enable other
1. Bluejacking: An attacker basically hackers to explore the possibility of
sends spam messages to a Bluetooth- writing Bluetooth viruses. The Mabir
enabled device user. The attacker can worm is a variation of the Cabir worm
send this message to the users within that simulates using Bluetooth and
30-foot radius. Multimedia Messaging Service
messages (MMS) [16]
2. Bluebugging: In this case, attackers
access the user’s device remotely. They 10. Fuzzing Attack: The attack happens
can receive phone calls, can send text when an adversary sends malformed
data packets and non-standard data to a
 device's Bluetooth radio in an order to
cause it to behave abnormally. When  On Bluetooth-enabled hosts that are
these attacks cause a device's response often attacked by malware, antivirus
to be slowed or stopped, it indicates the software must be installed [12]
protocol stack has a significant flaw.
[17]  To ensure that the policy is locally and
widely applied, a centralized security
11. Backdoor Attack: The backdoor policy management strategy should be
attack requires implementing a trust used in accordance with an endpoint
relationship through the pairing security product installed on the
mechanism, but ensuring that it does Bluetooth devices wherever possible.
not appear in the target's list of paired [15]
devices. When the connection is
established the attackers have full  Attackers can update or modify link
control of the victim's device. The keys if they are not stored properly [13]
attacker remains stealth while
accessing all the data.  Bluetooth patches need to be fully
tested before deploying and upgrades
12. Eavesdropping: It's all about wireless regularly.
technology. Bluetooth encryption, like
Wi-Fi encryption, is supposed to keep  Users should not accept any kind of
attackers from listening in on your messages, photos, and files from
information. unknown devices.

X. BLUETOOTH PREVENTION
IX. RISK MITIGATION AND MEASURES
COUNTERMEASURE
Always keep physical control of your
By applying countermeasures to devices. Remove devices that have been missing
prevent threats and vulnerabilities risk or stolen from paired device lists.
mitigation can be achieved. Organizations who
are using Bluetooth should address document  Avoid using the Bluetooth-enabled device
security policies. The policies should also to interact or transfer confidential or personal
include a proper password usage scheme. information, as it could be sniffed.
Organizations should include educational
awareness-based knowledge to provide an When connecting your Bluetooth device
adequate level of knowledge for those who will to your PC, enable encryption. [14]
deal with Bluetooth-enabled devices. Some of
the risk mitigation techniques and To keep up with the latest viruses and
countermeasures are given below:- Trojans, update your device antivirus on a
regular basis.
 To achieve optimal standards default Security Mode 3 is strongly
settings should be updated. recommended for the highest level of security.
Security mode 3 is enforced at the connection
 PIN codes have to be random and long. level to give the highest security.
Using long and random PIN codes
makes it harder for the attackers to XI. CONCLUSION
hack.
This paper covers up different vital themes such as
 Bluetooth devices have to be set to the a few foundation data related to the Bluetooth
lowest power to secure transmission system, its applications, how it works and different
within a safe perimeter of the desired security issues included in Bluetooth. We talked
network. about vulnerabilities in different versions of
Bluetooth, as well as a bunch of new Bluetooth
 Devices should be discoverable only security attacks. Most of which arise from the
for a short period of time to pair with pairing phase. Bluetooth risk mitigation and
the desired devices. Devices that are countermeasures were also researched in this paper.
discoverable and connectable all the
Bluetooth security experts need to research more
time are prone to attack.
 and update their technologies frequently to stand
against Bluetooth vulnerabilities.

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