Disney Ringtones?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jul Fri 28, 2006 10:42 pm

bluetooth connection

Are the security concerns as great as they are made out to be??

jrcohen · Post by **jrcohen** » Jul Sat 29, 2006 12:49 pm

I really have a hard time believing there are that many people hacking in to bluetooth connections. I'm sure they're not the most secure connection, since it's basically just a handshake connection, however the signal only carries around 30 ft. Someone would have to be sitting right next to you to snag your connection and try to use it for whatever purpose they are after. They'd be almost in your face asking you if they could hack your connection.

Post by **js3901** » Jul Sat 29, 2006 1:27 pm

jrcohen wrote:I really have a hard time believing there are that many people hacking in to bluetooth connections. I'm sure they're not the most secure connection, since it's basically just a handshake connection, however the signal only carries around 30 ft. Someone would have to be sitting right next to you to snag your connection and try to use it for whatever purpose they are after. They'd be almost in your face asking you if they could hack your connection.

actually, they did a test with this before and someone was able to hack the connection at a distance of almost a mile. This is what's called "snarfing" or "blue-jacking". and it's not that difficult to do. and you'd be surprised at how many people do this.

Bluetooth isn;t just for phones either, it is used in computers, photo kiosks, computer peripherals, phones, headsets, etc. comapnies like Cingular don;t limit the profiles (accessories you can link to) so you can use your bluetooth-enabled phones to take a picture, upload it to your computer/photo kiosk for printing, or sync up your address/phone book between your bluetooth-enabled computer and phone. the biggest thing is between the computer and phone, as your computer can store credit card/SSN/other personal info which could be a libility to you.

Also, if I was a hacker (which I'm not), with a bluetooth connection and no limits to the profiles, I could remove the OS to your phone so it stops working.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jul Sat 29, 2006 2:08 pm

actually, they did a test with this before and someone was able to hack the connection at a distance of almost a mile. This is what's called "snarfing" or "blue-jacking". and it's not that difficult to do. and you'd be surprised at how many people do this.

Bluetooth isn;t just for phones either, it is used in computers, photo kiosks, computer peripherals, phones, headsets, etc. comapnies like Cingular don;t limit the profiles (accessories you can link to) so you can use your bluetooth-enabled phones to take a picture, upload it to your computer/photo kiosk for printing, or sync up your address/phone book between your bluetooth-enabled computer and phone. the biggest thing is between the computer and phone, as your computer can store credit card/SSN/other personal info which could be a libility to you.

Also, if I was a hacker (which I'm not), with a bluetooth connection and no limits to the profiles, I could remove the OS to your phone so it stops working

Thank you for the info! I guess I will keep to my hard wired home network for awhile longer. I wired it myself. I used cat5e and a good punch down block with networks cards for my system. It was harder then just pluging in a wireless router, but it affords the protection I want for my home system.
I was reading that on most new phones you can turn off the bluetooth fetures,is this true?

Post by **js3901** » Jul Sat 29, 2006 7:37 pm

I believe that on the newer model phones with the newest version of bluetooth, you can choose the profiles you want. Verizon still has limited choices to begin with as far as profiles go, but they're huge on security as it is...

as far as your home system, that's not in as big a danger. Between the computer and wireless router, there is a secure, encrypted connection, and the router itself works as a firewall from the modem to the router, so you're secure that way. I have a wireless set-up in my home, but I could use the wireless router to connect via a hard-wired connection too. based on my proximity to the router, though, I use the hard-wired connection as I'm farther away and the signal isn't as strong (about dial-up speed). i plan on getting a speed booster or a relay to use in my part of the house, though...

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jul Sat 29, 2006 7:57 pm

i plan on getting a speed booster or a relay to use in my part of the house, though

As always speed is still based on all the usual factors? (proceesor speed,cache, hard drive speed and space) I'm usually not effected by system speed factors, I'm running an Athlon 64 dual at 4gig with 2 gig on board and 340 gig of hard drive. The kids system is my old 1gig system. I'm using a DSL router for both.

kristen · Post by **kristen** » Jul Sun 30, 2006 9:01 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:Are the security concerns as great as they are made out to be??

I haven't had any problems. But then again, I live out in the woods. I probably don't really need to password protect my network either (but I do).

Post by **js3901** » Jul Sun 30, 2006 9:36 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:
i plan on getting a speed booster or a relay to use in my part of the house, though
As always speed is still based on all the usual factors? (proceesor speed,cache, hard drive speed and space) I'm usually not effected by system speed factors, I'm running an Athlon 64 dual at 4gig with 2 gig on board and 340 gig of hard drive. The kids system is my old 1gig system. I'm using a DSL router for both.

not that kind of speed. I'm just talking speed in terms of signal strength between the wireless router and the wireless card in the computer. the distance between the two determines how fast the connection is. the closer I am to the router, the fatser the connection. farther away, slower the connection. it's kind of like a cell phone that way. the closer you are to a tower, the better your connection, but the farther away you are, the worse it becomes...

jrcohen · Post by **jrcohen** » Jul Mon 31, 2006 9:21 am

I still don't really get how it's possible to piggyback a signal from a mile away. How are they doing this? Where are they getting the tech that lets them do it? I mean all of the commercial stuff seems to stay pretty strict to that 30 ft range.

Post by **spaulo** » Jul Mon 31, 2006 11:12 am

that "snarfing" from a mile sounds like urban legend to me... bluetooth simply isn't effective at that range, and was never designed to be.

jrcohen · Post by **jrcohen** » Jul Mon 31, 2006 2:16 pm

That's what I thought too. It was designed to be used at most a few meters away.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jul Mon 31, 2006 5:48 pm

spaulo wrote:that "snarfing" from a mile sounds like urban legend to me... bluetooth simply isn't effective at that range, and was never designed to be.

Send the question into Mythbusters. Maybe they will do it on the show.

jrcohen · Post by **jrcohen** » Aug Tue 01, 2006 9:57 am

That would be awesome! Mythbusters is great. I just got into it a few weeks ago, now I'm watching it whenever i see it on.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Aug Wed 02, 2006 1:31 pm

Careful about watching it all the time, I did for a while and let me tell you when they have a marathon on the weekends it eats up the entire day. I've lost about 2 weeks because of the show.

I still miss buster 1, it was funnier to watch that one get destroyed.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Aug Thu 03, 2006 12:30 pm

In regards to the Disney Ringtones, Did anyone ever try http://www.mbuzzy.com you can create your own ringtones, wallpaper and get games for free.