5 Billion Devices Vulnerable To New Bluetooth Exploits, Considered Extremely Dangerous

Bluetooth is one of the most popular wireless connection services in the world, replacing infrared way back in the late 2000s. Unfortunately, its popularity might be its downfall since now, over five billion devices are in danger of getting hacked. A new vulnerability in the wireless connection feature can allow malicious individuals to use certain exploits that can access smartphones without having to touch it.

The vulnerability was discovered by the cyber security firm Armis, which dubbed the eight exploits it found BlueBorne, TechCrunch reports. Using these exploits, hackers can get into any device using Bluetooth, including phones, tablets, speakers, and pretty much any device connected to the Internet of Things. Seguru CEO Ralph Echemendia was emphatic in his warnings with regards to this vulnerability.

“Armis believes many more vulnerabilities await discovery in the various platforms using Bluetooth. These vulnerabilities are fully operational, and can be successfully exploited, as demonstrated in our research. The BlueBorne attack vector can be used to conduct a large range of offenses, including remote code execution as well as Man-in-The-Middle attacks,” Echemendia said. “BlueBorne affects pretty much every device we use. Turns that Bluetooth into a rotten black one. Don’t be surprised if you have to go see your security dentist on this one.”

Just for clarification, the ability of Bluetooth to connect from device to device means that hackers have considerable leverage in targeting electronics, CNET notes. This means that a victim could allow hackers to victimize even more people without ever realizing this fact.

In more frightening news, the vulnerability can even allow hackers to infect devices with malware, which is considerably more dangerous than how traditional hacking works. Usually, victims would need to click on a link sent via social media, messaging apps, or email in order to be infected. With BlueBorne, hackers can bypass this cumbersome process altogether and infect devices directly.