Bluetooth - 11 June 2005

Bluetooth: many people think Bluetooth is obsolete and will disappear. Manufacturing Bluetooth devices has, however, never been so healthy. And many vendors are just introducing cellular/Bluetooth convergence solutions (Alcatel, Nokia, Lucent, ...). A new flaw, however, has been recently discovered in the Bluetooth protocol, allowing the remote control of any mobile terminal, even with activated security options. A typical application could be to place calls through the controlled handset, without the owner's knowledge. Up to now, such a call could be placed only during the pairing phase of two Bluetooth devices. The new flaw allows taking control of the remote device at will, within or not a pairing phase.