{"id":2469,"date":"2024-07-10T14:19:38","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T14:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/?p=2469"},"modified":"2024-10-17T14:15:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T14:15:58","slug":"__trashed-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/__trashed-22\/","title":{"rendered":"UC San Diego Researchers Develop Breakthrough Firmware Update to Hide Bluetooth Fingerprints, Enhancing Device Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-blockquote uagb-block-e7eb3fc3 uagb-blockquote__skin-border uagb-blockquote__stack-img-none\"><blockquote class=\"uagb-blockquote\"><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__content\">Researchers at UC San Diego have pioneered a firmware update that effectively hides a device&#8217;s Bluetooth fingerprint, eliminating a significant tracking vulnerability and paving the way for enhanced privacy in mobile technology.<\/div><footer><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__author-wrap uagb-blockquote__author-at-left\"><\/div><\/footer><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0dfbf163 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><div style=\"font-size:16px;\" class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\">The University Network<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share uagb-social-share__outer-wrap uagb-social-share__layout-horizontal uagb-block-ee584a31\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-ec619ce7\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"facebook\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M504 256C504 119 393 8 256 8S8 119 8 256c0 123.8 90.69 226.4 209.3 245V327.7h-63V256h63v-54.64c0-62.15 37-96.48 93.67-96.48 27.14 0 55.52 4.84 55.52 4.84v61h-31.28c-30.8 0-40.41 19.12-40.41 38.73V256h68.78l-11 71.69h-57.78V501C413.3 482.4 504 379.8 504 256z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-32d99934\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"twitter\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M389.2 48h70.6L305.6 224.2 487 464H345L233.7 318.6 106.5 464H35.8L200.7 275.5 26.8 48H172.4L272.9 180.9 389.2 48zM364.4 421.8h39.1L151.1 88h-42L364.4 421.8z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-1d136f14\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"linkedin\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\"><path d=\"M416 32H31.9C14.3 32 0 46.5 0 64.3v383.4C0 465.5 14.3 480 31.9 480H416c17.6 0 32-14.5 32-32.3V64.3c0-17.8-14.4-32.3-32-32.3zM135.4 416H69V202.2h66.5V416zm-33.2-243c-21.3 0-38.5-17.3-38.5-38.5S80.9 96 102.2 96c21.2 0 38.5 17.3 38.5 38.5 0 21.3-17.2 38.5-38.5 38.5zm282.1 243h-66.4V312c0-24.8-.5-56.7-34.5-56.7-34.6 0-39.9 27-39.9 54.9V416h-66.4V202.2h63.7v29.2h.9c8.9-16.8 30.6-34.5 62.9-34.5 67.2 0 79.7 44.3 79.7 101.9V416z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A groundbreaking development by a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, promises to significantly enhance user privacy by addressing a vulnerability in mobile device Bluetooth signals. This vulnerability, which allowed for tracking devices via their unique Bluetooth fingerprints, has been effectively mitigated by a simple firmware update.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Discovery and Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vulnerability was first identified by the same UC San Diego research team, led by faculty members Aaron Schulman and Dinesh Bharadia. Their <a href=\"http:\/\/explore.ieee.org\/stamp\/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9833758\" title=\"\">initial findings<\/a>, presented at the 2022 IEEE Security &amp; Privacy conference, revealed that every mobile device emits Bluetooth signals with unique distortions, or fingerprints, due to small hardware imperfections. These fingerprints, an unintended byproduct of the manufacturing process, made it possible to track individual devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To counter this, the researchers developed a method involving multiple layers of randomization. This technique can be likened to using several layers of contact lenses to continuously change a person\u2019s eye color, making it nearly impossible to determine the original color. The <a href=\"http:\/\/Practical Obfuscation of BLE Physical-Layer Fingerprints on Mobile Devices\" title=\"\">solution<\/a> was presented at the 2024 IEEE Security &amp; Privacy conference, demonstrating that even the most sophisticated attackers, such as nation-state entities, would be unable to track devices with the new firmware update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Implementation and Testing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UC San Diego team implemented a prototype of this new defense on the Texas Instruments CC2640 chipset, which is commonly used in smart devices like fitness trackers and lighting systems. The results were impressive. Their tests showed that an adversary would need to continuously observe a device for over ten days to achieve the same level of tracking accuracy that could previously be achieved within a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis means that the fingerprints are no longer useful for the attacker to infer the identity of the device, and the optimal attacker can barely do better than a random guess,\u201d Bharadia said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/today.ucsd.edu\/story\/a-simple-firmware-update-completely-hides-a-devices-bluetooth-fingerprint\" title=\"\">news release<\/a>.  \u201cYou can\u2019t track the phone\u2019s fingerprint even if you\u2019re sitting right next to it, because both MAC and PHY identities keep changing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Future Prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers are now seeking industry partners to integrate this technology into widely-used Bluetooth chipsets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis defense can be rolled out incrementally, requiring only software modification on at least one widely-used Bluetooth Low Energy chipset. But in order to deploy this defense widely, we need to partner with Bluetooth chip manufacturers,\u201d Hadi Givehchian, the paper\u2019s first author and a doctoral student at UC San Diego&#8217;s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said in the news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the team believes that their method could also be adapted to obfuscate WiFi fingerprints, further extending the privacy benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This development is a significant step forward in protecting user privacy in an increasingly connected world. By addressing the vulnerabilities inherent in Bluetooth and potentially WiFi fingerprints, the UC San Diego team is paving the way for more secure and private mobile device usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UC San Diego team comprised of researchers from both the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A groundbreaking development by a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, promises to significantly enhance user privacy by addressing a vulnerability in mobile device Bluetooth signals. This vulnerability, which allowed for tracking devices via their unique Bluetooth fingerprints, has been effectively mitigated by a simple firmware update. The Discovery and Solution [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-no-separators","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"The University Network","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/author\/funky_junkie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A groundbreaking development by a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, promises to significantly enhance user privacy by addressing a vulnerability in mobile device Bluetooth signals. This vulnerability, which allowed for tracking devices via their unique Bluetooth fingerprints, has been effectively mitigated by a simple firmware update. The Discovery and Solution&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2513,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions\/2513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}