4 ms·
"Classic" Bluetooth does not broadcast a detectable ID except if the device is explicitly in "pairing mode". It can be inferred when observing a connection esta
by lxgr 2y ago
"Classic" Bluetooth does not broadcast a detectable ID except if the device is explicitly in "pairing mode". It can be inferred when observing a connection establishment between two paired devices, or probed for if known (i.e. you can confirm that one of a few candidate devices is nearby, if you know their addresses), but not passively sniffed, as far as I know.
Bluetooth LE does explicitly broadcast its MAC address in some modes, but offers various forms of private or random address modes to mitigate the problem.
- autoexec 2y agothere are passive ways to track cell phones using bluetooth: https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/22/bluetooth_tracking_device/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/22/bluetooth_tracking_de... https://cec.gmu.edu/news/2025-02/find-my-hacker-how-apples-network-can-be-potential-tracking-tool https://cec.gmu.edu/news/2025-02/find-my-hacker-how-apples-n...
- lxgr 2y agoThe second attack you linked is yet another completely different threat model. It requires running malicious software on the device to be tracked. From the paper: The Trojan code runs on the computer to be tracked. It retrieves the advertising address, acquires the matching public key from our server, and then advertises lost messages That's about as active as it gets! The first one describes radio fingerprinting, which is relatively new, concerning, and might be tricky to address.