Bluetooth device (BT): what it is and how it is attacked
Something that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
Also known as
- BT
- Bluetooth Low Energy
- BLE
- pairing
- wireless keyboard
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is a network of its own that no firewall sees, and the devices on it frequently hold keyboard, microphone or file access to the machine they pair with.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Pairing left open, or accepted on a prompt nobody read
- Input devices that can type, which makes them a route into the machine rather than an accessory on it
- Pairings kept indefinitely from hire cars, hotels and former colleagues' equipment
What reduces it
- Make pairing a deliberate act at a known time in a known place, not a standing state
- Treat a wireless keyboard as an interface into the machine, not an accessory on it
- Put clearing pairings into the travel routine and the leaver process
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- bluetooth-device
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless network nameSSID · network name · WLAN · guest wifiThe name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Mobile broadband router4G router · 5G router · cellular modem · MiFi · dongle · tetheringA box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
- Satellite terminalVSAT · satcom · satellite internet · BGANA dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
- Satellite time and location receiverGPS · GNSS · GPS clock · grandmaster clock · timing sourceA device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Contactless readerNFC reader · tap reader · payment terminal · card terminalA pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Bluetooth device on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type BT. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker