The hackers are at it again. A weakness in the Bluetooth wireless standard have allowed hackers to be able to steal data from your devices wirelessly. Hackers can easily track keystrokes, contact lists as well as other sensitive data from devices through this method.
The process is called “Key Negotiation of Bluetooth” or KNOB for short. In just a single byte, the attack can force two or more devices in one go to choose an encryption key and establish a Bluetooth connection if the attacker and the victim are within the radio range. Any two devices that are sharing information such as a wireless keyboard to a smart device or computer, a phone connected to a car’s dashboard or even two phones sharing photos are vulnerable to the attack.
It is almost impossible to notice the attack happening unless the victim has access to highly specialized equipment. The problem lies in a weakness in the Bluetooth standard itself which means, regardless of what Bluetooth chip your device is using - whether it be Broadcom, Apple, and Qualcomm - all of them are vulnerable to the attack.
So far, the Bluetooth Special Interests Group has issued a notice but no fix has been provided yet. However, some companies such as Apple, Windows, Google and Blackberry have provided their own fixes. So make sure to update your devices to the latest patch. Have you done it? Keep up with the latest tech news on TechNave.com!
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