Bluetooth Phones Vulnerable to Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing Attacks

especially when Bluetooth is turned on according to the Bluestumbler.org web site. Bluejacking is an abuse that is commonly used voluntarily to send text messages using Bluetooth rather than via a cell company transmission among cell phone users. The downside is spammers and other n'er do wells can also tap into this flaw. Bluesnarfing ranges from stealing data from your phone, like contacts and calendars, to installing a "backdoor" to use your phone surreptitiously for GPRS data transfers, etc.

The vulnerable phones include the popular Bluetooth phones from Sony Ericsson, like our T68i, and Nokia. Turning Bluetooth off is the main defense but apparently some Nokias can be snarfed even if Bluetooth is turned off. The phone makers claim to be working on a fix.

This is a real problem since we use a Bluetooth headset with our phone and use the phone occasionally as a GPRS "modem". During both uses Bluetooth is turned on for a considerable period of time in public.