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Why you shouldn’t keep Bluetooth on

How Bluetooth works

The Bluetooth It is not a new technology, far from it. In fact, he has been with us for more than 25 years. But of course, over time it has been improving and new versions have been appearing. This has allowed them to have greater range, speed and stability. In this way there are many devices that can take advantage of it.

Its purpose is to allow connect different devices with each other to communicate. For example, we can connect headphones wirelessly to a mobile phone, computer or any other compatible device. Also exchange information, link devices, hands-free, etc.

They work through a radio frequency link in the 2.4 GHz band. The latest version available is 5.2. It is the most optimized to save battery, as well as improve security and maintain stability. But whatever version you have on your device, keeping it activated can have negative consequences.

What happens if you have Bluetooth activated

Although we are not directly using Bluetooth, the fact that it is activated in our equipment it can suppose some problems. Although it is in the background, it will continue to work. In addition, this can allow certain attacks by hackers who manage to exploit a flaw.

Continuous sending of data

Something fundamental is that Bluetooth, whenever it is activated, will be sending data. This happens even without being linked to another device. The interface is responsible for periodically sending the UUID to other devices. It is the universal unique identifier, something that is used so that other devices can connect.

If someone gets hold of that UUID, they could geolocate the device. Even if we keep the device hidden, it would continue to send this type of information continuously. It is something that will affect privacy and can also put the security of our mobile or the device we have at risk.

Man-in-the-Middle attacks

Another problem that we can suffer if we have Bluetooth activated is what is known as a Man-in-the-Middle attack. It is a classic in terms of threats to communications. It basically consists of an attacker who gets in the way of the connection between two devices. You can read what is being sent and even modify that data.

In the case of Bluetooth, our device could accidentally connect to another third-party device. That person, that attacker in short, could take control, collect information, etc. It could even saturate the communications between these teams and thus generate problems.

What are Man in the Middle attacks?

Potential vulnerabilities

Following the thread of what we mentioned, an attacker can take advantage of vulnerabilities on the device. It could connect without the victim having to agree. Although with versions 4 and 5 this has been fixed and an automatic pairing without the permission of the other device is no longer possible, problems can always arise.

In case there is some known vulnerability and the attacker exploits it, he could take control of that device that has kept Bluetooth connected. It is a major problem, since all this would happen without the victim having to do anything.

Benefits of turning it off

So, what advantages can we achieve if we turn off Bluetooth when not in use? Let’s see the most important aspects. We’re going to make some interesting improvements that allow devices to work better and also be able to prevent attacks like the ones we’ve seen.

Battery saving

The first advantage of turning off Bluetooth when we are not using it is being able to save energy. After all, as long as we have it on, it will be sending information and, ultimately, consuming resources. It’s the same thing that happens with Wi-Fi, basically. Although we are not using it directly, it will consume battery.

Therefore, if we want the battery of our mobile to last longer, simply by deactivating Bluetooth we can make it last a little longer. We will avoid unnecessary consumption in any device that works by battery. Of course, the latest versions have improved a lot in this regard and they no longer consume as much.

security enhancement

Another clear reason for wanting to turn off Bluetooth on your mobile or any device is for security. We have seen that there are different types of attacks that can arise, such as the Man-in-the-Middle technique. For maximum protection, it is important not to keep this type of technology on.

In addition, privacy will also be safe. We will not be sending data constantly and we can avoid exposing more than necessary the personal and device information that may be available. If an attacker knows what the model of our mobile is, for example, they could carry out certain attacks that can take advantage of an existing vulnerability.

Avoid unauthorized links

It will also prevent us from accidentally linking the device to another device that it shouldn’t. If we keep the Bluetooth off, it would not be possible for another device, whatever it is, to be able to send a request to be linked and this would happen without our approval.

In this case we would also be facing a security and privacy problem. We could be sharing data with third parties without us realizing it and they could even have control of the device. This would happen if, for example, a device is connected to our mobile phone.

Conclusions

Therefore, we can say that it is important keep bluetooth off on the mobile when we are not using it. We can always turn it on quickly when we really need to connect something. This will avoid problems related to security and privacy, but also save energy. Although this technology has improved in recent times, it continues to consume resources that can be excessive.

Our advice is to control wireless communications and, in the case of Bluetooth, not to activate this feature beyond what is necessary. We only have to enable it when we are going to connect headphones, a keyboard or any device that does need to have connectivity with the phone.

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