Businesses are at risk of losing confidential data to
hackers as office workers leave their Bluetooth-enabled PDAs and
mobile phones unsecured.
A survey of commuters in three central London railway stations
found that one in 10 were travelling with mobile devices that were
wide open to eavesdropping by hackers.
An engineer from security company Orthus, armed with a laptop
computer and a free Linux software tool, was able to identify
unsecured data held on hundreds of mobile devices as commuters
headed home.
Out of 943 devices identified at the three stations, 379 had
been left on their default security settings and 138 were
vulnerable to hacking attacks, known as bluesnarfing.
Personal data including voice messages, address books, e-mails
and diaries stored on the mobile devices was extremely vulnerable
to theft or manipulation, the firm said.
Orthus managing director Richard Hollis said hackers could
download the data or change it across open Bluetooth channels
without the owners realising.
The devices were also at risk from mobile viruses that propagate
through Bluetooth connections.
About half of the mobile devices left on the manufacturers'
default settings were vulnerable to Bluesnarfing, the research
revealed.
“Corporations need to consider adding PDA and mobile phone
policies to their corporate security policies and making sure their
staff have been educated,” said Hollis. "There should be a written
policy."
To protect against bluesnarfing
- Don’t enable Bluetooth unless it is required
- Personalise the Bluetooth device name so it does not contain
model or manufacturing information
- Only enable Bluetooth services you intend to use
- If you need to leave Bluetooth enabled, ensure the visibility
settings prohibit third parties from identifying the
device