Gunning for Bluetooth

This article is enough to make you think twice about using BlueTooth for any data that matters:

The gun, which is called the BlueSniper rifle, can scan and attack Bluetooth devices from more than a mile away. The first version of the gun showed up at Defcon 2004, a hacker/computer security convention held annually in Las Vegas. You can read about it in Tom's Hardware show coverage report here.

While the early version was held together with tie-straps and rubber bands, this newest version has a much more professional look. The team at Flexilis learned a lot from making their previous gun, and have made many improvements. The gun is now bigger, stronger and more durable and the antenna is almost twice a powerful as the older model. It also has a small computer which eliminates the need for lugging around a heavy laptop just to gather data.

How hard was it to make this gun? John Hering, from Flexilis, says, "The parts are easily available for a few hundred dollars and you can make this gun in a long afternoon." In fact, in this two-part article, we will show you how to build your very own Bluetooth sniper rifle. A complete parts list is provided and we will document each step of the manufacturing process. We'll also report on our test "shoot" of some famous high-rise buildings in downtown L.A., namely the US Bank / Library Tower and the AON Tower.

With how lucrative a field identity theft is, I expect the hackers to be out in force with this technology. I remember when cell phones first came out - just about any trip into New York City was an invitation to have your phone hacked. Things are going to get worse in Wireless tech before they better.