Researchers at the University of California San Diego have found a way to track a phone based on its Bluetooth signal.

The UCSD researchers focused on fingerprinting devices communicating with Bluetooth Low Energy (via Android Police). BLE tech was designed to reduce the power consumption of traditional Bluteooth at the cost of a bit of bandwidth and range. However, its negatives were outweighed by its positives considering it only used 1% of the power required by traditional Bluetooth. This allowed BLE-equipped devices to broadcast constantly.

ble-tracking-fingerprint (1)

Rather than trying to break through the encryption of the data within the signal, the researchers instead focused on identifying unique features of the radio signal being broadcast. All wireless transmitters have a signal variance unique to each device. These disturbances are carried through the signal and can be isolated from the data, creating a unique fingerprint for the broadcasting device.

The fingerprints are fairly unique too. The researchers found that both the false-positive rate and the false-negative rate were below 5% when using the technique. And on some devices, like the Pixel 5, the false-negative rate was 0%. This means that there wasn’t a single case where the fingerprint was incorrectly identified.

But while the figures can be scary, it is worth noting that there are significant limits on the feasibility of this tracking method. For starters, not all imperfections are unique. Some BLE chipsets produce similar imperfections, making identification much more challenging. Further, fingerprints can vary based on temperature, which limits the Bluetooth vulnerability to more stable environments.

Bottom line is, the Bluetooth vulnerability isn’t much to be concerned about. But if it keeps bothering you, then your best bet would be to simply turn off your Bluetooth, at least when you don’t need it.

RELATED:

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR