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posted by takyon on Saturday November 18 2017, @10:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-hear-you dept.

A series of recently disclosed critical Bluetooth flaws that affect billions of Android, iOS, Windows and Linux devices have now been discovered in millions of AI-based voice-activated personal assistants, including Google Home and Amazon Echo.

As estimated during the discovery of this devastating threat, several IoT and smart devices whose operating systems are often updated less frequently than smartphones and desktops are also vulnerable to BlueBorne.

BlueBorne is the name given to the sophisticated attack exploiting a total of eight Bluetooth implementation vulnerabilities that allow attackers within the range of the targeted devices to run malicious code, steal sensitive information, take complete control, and launch man-in-the-middle attacks.

What's worse? Triggering the BlueBorne exploit doesn't require victims to click any link or open any fileā€”all without requiring user interaction. Also, most security products would likely not be able to detect the attack. What's even scarier is that once an attacker gains control of one Bluetooth-enabled device, he/she can infect any or all devices on the same network.

These Bluetooth vulnerabilities were patched by Google for Android in September, Microsoft for Windows in July, Apple for iOS one year before disclosure, and Linux distributions also shortly after disclosure. However, many of these 5 billion devices are still unpatched and open to attacks via these flaws.

Source: https://thehackernews.com/2017/11/amazon-alexa-hacking-bluetooth.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @10:59AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @10:59AM (#598622)

    Omg! OMG! omg! Wait, who uses bluetooth for anything security wise, if they are not a total Windoze Luzer?

  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 18 2017, @12:55PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday November 18 2017, @12:55PM (#598641) Homepage

    Who? Anybody too stupid to have to use concepts like sockets.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @12:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @12:59PM (#598642)

    sigh ... trolls be trollin'

    Omg! OMG! omg! Wait, who uses bluetooth for anything security wise

    No one is using bluetooth for security. This is a security flaw in bluetooth. If your device has bluetooth enabled then you are vulnerable (if you haven't applied the security patches that correct this issue).

    critical Bluetooth flaws that affect billions of Android, iOS, Windows and Linux devices

    if they are not a total Windoze Luzer?

    So, not just "Windoze"?