WEBVTT - How Bluetooth Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to the podcast. My name's Jonathan Strickland. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>a staff writer here at how Stuff Works. And with

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<v Speaker 1>me is Chris Palette, editor extraordinaire. And we're gonna talk

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about Bluetooth security. Uh. Bluetooth is a

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<v Speaker 1>very popular technology. It's getting more and more popular every day,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems, uh. And it's one of several wireless technologies.

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<v Speaker 1>It's if you think of wireless technologies on on a

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<v Speaker 1>on a scale basis, Bluetooth is the really close in

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<v Speaker 1>scale we're talking like, then you have WiFi, which extends

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<v Speaker 1>can extend a little further than that, and then you

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<v Speaker 1>would have y max, which could broadcast much further. So

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<v Speaker 1>Bluetooth is a sort of your personal little small bubble

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<v Speaker 1>of wireless allows you to connect different devices wirelessly to

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<v Speaker 1>other Yeah. For example, UM, to send ringtones to my

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<v Speaker 1>cell phone, I might turn on my Bluetooth on my

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<v Speaker 1>laptop and turn it onto my cell phone and then

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<v Speaker 1>send the files over there. You can exchange photos or

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<v Speaker 1>uh send you know, MP three's for your ringtones. It's

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<v Speaker 1>also what you see when you see those little earpieces

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<v Speaker 1>that people wear in public. They're wireless earpieces. It's the

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<v Speaker 1>piece that connects to your phone, uh and the W

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<v Speaker 1>remote actually uses it to uh communicate with the uh

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<v Speaker 1>the WE game system. So it's it's something you've probably seen,

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<v Speaker 1>although you may not know exactly what it was at

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<v Speaker 1>the time. Right, So if you were wondering what it

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<v Speaker 1>what what those things were that we're making people look

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<v Speaker 1>like cyborgs, uh, that would be the the Bluetooth headsets. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>And also it counts for a lot of people apparently

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<v Speaker 1>muttering to themselves in public when they're actually talking on

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<v Speaker 1>the fountain, right. Yes, it has certainly made me think

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<v Speaker 1>that there were a lot more crazy people on the

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<v Speaker 1>streets than I originally thought, and I live in a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty crazy part of town. But turns out that a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them were just having conversations with their buddy,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, who is a couple of miles away, legitimately,

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<v Speaker 1>not in an imaginary way. So that's that's sort of

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<v Speaker 1>a relief. Yeah. Unfortunately, with Bluetooth, there are some security issues,

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<v Speaker 1>just like there are with other wireless kinds of technology,

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<v Speaker 1>they're just not their holes in there that that can

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<v Speaker 1>be exploited readily by hackers. Right. The kind of acts

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<v Speaker 1>like a sort of a walkie talkie in a way.

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<v Speaker 1>You're you're you're sending signals by radio waves and uh

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<v Speaker 1>and if you if you don't have your settings just right,

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<v Speaker 1>you're essentially sending them into the general area. Anyone could

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<v Speaker 1>could intercept them or or start slipping little messages to

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<v Speaker 1>you with you being unaware of where they're coming from,

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<v Speaker 1>who they're from. You know. That's what that's what That

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<v Speaker 1>brings us to the first topic of bluetooth security. Bluejacking.

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<v Speaker 1>This is this is a sort of more annoying than

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<v Speaker 1>dangerous most of the time. Yeah, Actually, as I was

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<v Speaker 1>editing this article, I was thinking about doing that myself. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>what you do is, if you have a cell phone

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<v Speaker 1>that's Bluetooth enabled, you can add a message in your

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<v Speaker 1>address book like you would add a friend, but instead

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<v Speaker 1>of adding your friend's name, like if I were adding

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan to my address book, instead I would add a

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<v Speaker 1>message called you know, how's it going. And then what

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<v Speaker 1>you do is you turn on your Bluetooth and you

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<v Speaker 1>look it tells you who is around you or the

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<v Speaker 1>devices that are Bluetooth enabled around you. And if you

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<v Speaker 1>could find a phone in there, a lot of them

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<v Speaker 1>look like a string of letters or numbers. May if

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<v Speaker 1>you could find, say, Sony ericson T six ten listed

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<v Speaker 1>in there, you could send how's it going as a

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<v Speaker 1>contact to that to that phone. And when somebody when

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<v Speaker 1>you look around and you see someone's phone ring and

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<v Speaker 1>they get this puzzled look, this person gets a puzzled

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<v Speaker 1>look on your face, you know that you've actually blue

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<v Speaker 1>jacked that person with this secret message, right, And and

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<v Speaker 1>of course you could go a little bit, you could

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<v Speaker 1>have a little more fun with it. Uh. Many of

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<v Speaker 1>the blue jacking sites talk about things like going to

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<v Speaker 1>a mall and just kind of looking around to see

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<v Speaker 1>who has a phone or an earpiece and uh and

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<v Speaker 1>making some educated guesses about what device that person might

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<v Speaker 1>be carrying. Because you don't necessarily know that the devices

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<v Speaker 1>you see listed when when your Bluetooth device to text them,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't necessarily know which ones belonged to which people.

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<v Speaker 1>It takes a little bit of guesswork. But let's say

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<v Speaker 1>you see, uh, someone wearing a Ramones T shirt and

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<v Speaker 1>you might want to write a little message saying I

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<v Speaker 1>hate punk rock and you send it to that person's

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<v Speaker 1>device and they suddenly get a message that has no

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<v Speaker 1>identification on it saying I hate punk rock. They know

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<v Speaker 1>someone's looking at them, they don't know who. Kind of

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<v Speaker 1>freaks them out a little bit. Yeah. That, Um, that's

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<v Speaker 1>the security issue obviously. Uh, this isn't that serious. You're

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<v Speaker 1>just getting secret messages and you don't really know who

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<v Speaker 1>your admirer or detractor is. Um, but if you want

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<v Speaker 1>to uh avoid being the person wearing a Ramon shirt

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<v Speaker 1>and being I identifiable any wait wait, I just want

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<v Speaker 1>to make one thing clear. Do not be the person

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<v Speaker 1>who avoids wearing the remote shirts. Ramons are awesome. Where

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<v Speaker 1>Ramon's shirts they're great. Well, there you go. But if

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<v Speaker 1>you don't want to be identified, what you need to

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<v Speaker 1>do is, if you have a Bluetooth enabled phone, just

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<v Speaker 1>make sure that you don't you know, if you if

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<v Speaker 1>you use the Bluetooth feature, make sure that you don't

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<v Speaker 1>identify yourself in this. You know, don't say this is

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<v Speaker 1>Chris's phone in there, because then they're going to know

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<v Speaker 1>that that's somebody's phone in that. You know, it's available

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<v Speaker 1>and ready to have a message sentulate. Right. Let's let's

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<v Speaker 1>move on to some of the more potentially sinister bluetooth

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<v Speaker 1>security problems, one of which would be intercepting messages, but

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<v Speaker 1>another is tracking people and this is actually going on

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<v Speaker 1>in a couple of different places. Um I was reading

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<v Speaker 1>a news story about bath in England. It was in

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<v Speaker 1>the newspaper The Guardian, where the city was using this

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<v Speaker 1>uh this program to kind of track people's movements, not

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<v Speaker 1>in a way that could identify the individuals within the program,

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<v Speaker 1>but just to kind of see where people were going,

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<v Speaker 1>what places were most popular. But it raises some some

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<v Speaker 1>privacy concerns, and uh I remember in the article on

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<v Speaker 1>our site we specifically talk about shopping malls using this

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<v Speaker 1>to kind of look and see which places in the

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<v Speaker 1>mall are the most popular, right right, Well, they basically

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<v Speaker 1>do the same thing. You have an identifiable number or

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<v Speaker 1>name in your phone and you carry it with you,

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<v Speaker 1>then the bluetooth devices would basically have non identifiable information.

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<v Speaker 1>It's it's actually very much like a cookie on a website,

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<v Speaker 1>because they would say, okay, well, uh j Q for

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<v Speaker 1>ten is going from uh the Apple store down to

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<v Speaker 1>the food court, and they would be able to know

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<v Speaker 1>how much time that that number, you know, spent in

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<v Speaker 1>that particular store and then went down to the food court,

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<v Speaker 1>and they spent another hour down there, and then they

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<v Speaker 1>went down to uh to the department store on the

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<v Speaker 1>other end, it's spent another hour and there they would

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<v Speaker 1>know that much about you, but they wouldn't know your

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<v Speaker 1>name and an address or phone number or any of

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<v Speaker 1>that information, because it's not the same. But it is

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<v Speaker 1>a little weird to think that people could be watching

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<v Speaker 1>you as you go from place to place right there.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's some people who still still assert that it's

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<v Speaker 1>at least possible that eventually you could be identified by

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<v Speaker 1>this information. It would not be easy, and there's not

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<v Speaker 1>really much incentive for anyone to actually go through that

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<v Speaker 1>trouble to do it. But the fact that there may

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<v Speaker 1>be some potential for that has a lot of people worried.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, you're talking about a privacy thing. I'm sure

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<v Speaker 1>are are. Coworker Josh Clark would be upset if the

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<v Speaker 1>shopping mall had identified that he had gone in and

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<v Speaker 1>out of Victoria's Secret fourteen times. That's probably true and

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<v Speaker 1>completely believable. Yeah, I'm not getting into that, um, normal,

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<v Speaker 1>I get into why so many people in England used

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<v Speaker 1>the phone in their bath. No. Yeah, alright, very cute,

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<v Speaker 1>but seriously, it's not like this identify. This information is

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<v Speaker 1>really personally identifying, and they would have to go to

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of trouble because, as you pointed out earlier, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>Bluetooth is a very short range mode of communication, so

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<v Speaker 1>they would have to have whoever is tracking you would

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<v Speaker 1>have to have sensors, a lot of sensors, like every

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<v Speaker 1>twenty exactly, in order to to effectively track you. So

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about a system that is not effective as

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<v Speaker 1>far as tracking individuals, and you know, for anything like

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<v Speaker 1>an intelligence agency that's concerned with terrorism, for example, you

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<v Speaker 1>would have to blanket entire city areas with tons and

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<v Speaker 1>tons and tons of sensors and uh and it's just

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<v Speaker 1>not practical. It would it's too expensive, The infrastructure would

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<v Speaker 1>be uh, pretty complex. So on a scale of one

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<v Speaker 1>to tend, Bluetooth security is probably on the you know,

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<v Speaker 1>three to four range. Just for your own personal information. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>it is possible for people to use bluetooth to to

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<v Speaker 1>hijack your phone. It is possible for people to get

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<v Speaker 1>access to your information. Um. Again, it's not an easy

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<v Speaker 1>thing to do, but it's it's possible. So you definitely

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<v Speaker 1>want to be careful about when you're using those Bluetooth

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<v Speaker 1>capabilities with your devices. Um, if you're going to be

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<v Speaker 1>in an area that, uh, that has a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>hackers in it. For example, let's say you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>a hacker convention, might not be the best time to

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<v Speaker 1>enable all your Bluetooth devices. That's true. UM. Honestly, the

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<v Speaker 1>easiest way to avoid any of this is to turn

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<v Speaker 1>your phone or other Bluetooth enabled device to uh. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it'll say whether you're discoverable or not, that sort of

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<v Speaker 1>Bluetooth jargon. And if you just turn it off, you

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<v Speaker 1>make it non discoverable. Then it's uh, it's impossible. Your

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<v Speaker 1>the power is down, um and no one will be

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<v Speaker 1>able to do that. And it saves battery life, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>because if it's got that radio signal going the whole time,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it's it's draining your battery. So there there's

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<v Speaker 1>another advantage to it right there. Well that's pretty much

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<v Speaker 1>the inside skinny I guess on the whole Bluetooth security issue.

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<v Speaker 1>Wouldn't you say I'd say so. UM, if you'd like

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<v Speaker 1>to read more about it, we've got a couple of

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<v Speaker 1>articles for you. We have what is blue Jacking, which

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<v Speaker 1>is the article about blue jacking and sending secret messages

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<v Speaker 1>to people, and then how Bluetooth Surveillance works if you're

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<v Speaker 1>more interested about the cobrat clandestine world of bluetooth security

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<v Speaker 1>and um those are available right now on how stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening. For more on this and thousands of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics. Does it how stuff works dot com Let

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<v Speaker 1>us know what you think. Send an email to podcast

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<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you by

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<v Speaker 1>the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you