How to Protect Yourself against Bluetooth Hacking (Bluesnarfing)

Bluetooth has become an extremely popular data transfer technology nowadays, allowing users to carry out a wide array of activities, such as transferring files between a mobile handheld and a computer, streaming audio and voice calls, and much more. However, as any technology that has anything to do with the users' data, this one can also be subjected to malevolent breach attempts (hacking), the phenomenon being known as Bluesnarfing.

Of course, there are several ways one can prevent any Bluesnarfing attempts, but in order for you to understand just why some steps are necessary, it's perhaps a good idea to learn a few things about the problem itself.

Hence, Bluesnarfing can be described as unauthorized access of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection. The level of access depends from case to case, but, in general, it involves pretty much anything that's stored on the user's mobile device, including here text messages, emails, contact lists, photos and videos, calendar data, etc.

However, you shouldn't imagine that there's a Bluesnarfer hidden around every corner, just waiting to steal your data. The truth of the matter is that Bluesnarfing requires some special software, as well as a consensual “pairing.” There's little info on whether Bluesnarfing is possible without the targeted phone being paired with the computer running the aforementioned software application, but we shouldn't completely rule out this possibility, either.

Anyway, now that you have an idea regarding what Bluesnarfing is, let's move on to more serious stuff, like how to prevent such an undesired event from occurring.

The first thing you must keep in mind is to always set your Bluetooth-equipped device(s) to non-discoverable mode, and keep it/them that way until you actually need to transfer data. When so, make sure that the device with which you're pairing is a trusted one. So, don't go accepting pairing requests from just about anyone, because while most of these attempts will most likely be legit, some might not. And if you happen to pair your phone with a hacker's computer, then all your data will be at risk.

Furthermore, be wary of the passwords you're using. It's a very good idea to set a very difficult PIN for accessing your mobile phone, one which contains a sequence of several letters and numbers. Also, it's a good idea to change the passwords at relative short time intervals, just to be on the safe side.

These are only a few general tips, which will help you prevent the most common Bluesnarfing attempts. Of course, you shouldn't really worry that much, since, unless you're some high-profile person, it's not very likely that you'll become the target of a Bluesnarfer.