Bluejacking

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Origins 3 Usage 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Summary

Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers, sending a vCard which typically contains a message in the name field (i.e. for bluedating or bluechat) to another bluetooth enabled device via the OBEX protocol.

Bluetooth has a very limited range, usually around 10 metres on mobile phones, but laptops can reach up to 100 metres with powerful (Class 1) transmitters.

[edit] Origins

The origin of the name is disputed. It is widely believed that the term bluejacking comes from Bluetooth and hijacking. However, a bluejacker doesn't hijack anything: he or she merely uses a feature on the sender and the recipient's device. Both parties remain in absolute control over their devices, and a bluejacker will not be able to take over your phone or steal your personal information.

The term 'bluejacking' was first used by an Esato user 'Ajack', who designed an early utility for bluejacking. [1]

[edit] Usage

Bluejacking is usually technically harmless, but because bluejacked people don't know what is happening, they think their phone is malfunctioning. Usually, a bluejacker will only send a text message, but with modern phones it's possible to send images or sounds as well. Bluejacking has been used in guerrilla marketing campaigns to promote advergames.

With the increase in the availability of bluetooth enabled devices, these devices have become vulnerable to virus attacks and even complete take over of devices through a trojan horse program.

Bluejacking is also confused with bluesnarfing which is the way in which mobile phones are illegally hacked via bluetooth; see Bluesnarfing for more details.

[edit] See also

• Bluesnarfing
• BluejackQ
• Bluecasting

[edit] External links

• War, Peace or Stalemate, An article on the ethics and legality of wireless hacking (including bluejacking).
• Esato, The SonyEricsson community site where Bluejacking was "discovered"
• The actual thread and post where aJack coins the term Bluejacking online for the first time
• bluejackQ, website dedicated to bluejacking
• BluejackAddicts, another website dedicated to bluejacking
• bluejacking.cz, a Czech and Slovak bluejacking forum
• Information on Bluejacking
• A Polish bluejacking information site