Businesses are at risk of losing confidential data to
hackers asoffice 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 are travelling with mobile devices that are
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
travelled home.
Out of 943 devices identified at three London 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 mobile devices were extremely vulnerable to
theft or manipulation, the company said.
Hackers could download the data or change it across open
Bluetooth channels without the owners being aware, said managing
director Richard Hollis.
About half the mobile devices left on their manufacturer's
default security settings were vulnerable to Bluesnarfing, research
revealed.
"Corporations need to consider adding PDA and mobile phone
policies to their written corporate security policies and make sure
their staff have been educated," said Hollis.
Protect yourself
To protect against bluesnarfing:
- Don't enable Bluetooth unless it is required
- Personalise the Bluetooth device name so that it does not
contain model and 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