Bluetooth Flaw Lets Hackers Track Windows, macOS and iOS Devices

guest · Jul 18, 2019

Bluetooth Flaw Lets Hackers Track Windows, macOS and iOS Devices
July 17, 2019
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/bluetooth-flaw-windows-macos-ios

As ZDNet first reported, David Starobinski and Johannes Becker of Boston University outlined in a research paper how smartphones, laptops and wearables can be tracked through an exploit in Bluetooth technology.

According to the document, there is a flaw in the constantly changing, randomized MAC addresses that are designed to keep Bluetooth devices safe from tracking. This security approach could play into the hand of a bad actor, allowing them not only to track a device but also to gain information about its identity as well as user activity.

Perhaps most frightening is that this algorithm doesn't do any decrypting and is based completely on public, unencrypted advertising traffic, according to the paper. Also concerning is that the exploit was tested on the Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) specification, which is found in the latest Bluetooth 5 standard.
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The exploit supposedly works on Windows 10, iOS and macOS devices, which includes iPhones, Surface devices and MacBooks. Android devices advertise their traffic in a completely different way (by scanning for nearby advertising; there is no active, continuous tracking) and are immune to the vulnerability.

Although no known cases were cited, researchers warn that if the BLE vulnerability remains unchecked, adversaries could eventually combine purchase transactions, facial recognition and other sensitive info with tracking data to create a profile of an exposed user.
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Research paper: "Tracking Anonymized Bluetooth Devices" (PDF - 630 KB): https://petsymposium.org/2019/files/papers/issue3/popets-2019-0036.pdf

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