If I pair my Android phone and my laptop, I can share files over Bluetooth from the phone to the laptop. I’ve started finding this a really convenient method for me to send files to a Linux laptop without needing to install a separate app on either the phone or my laptop. Especially when I’m away from my home network (I use SFTP at home).
How secure is this? Is there encryption by default and could someone else nearby with a receiver potentially decode the file you’re sending?
It’s actually entirely horse shit.
Only the very newest products that are on the latest standard are secure.
It all look secure and sounds secure and feels secure with all the encryption….
But about 2 years ago there was a downgrade attack that was proven to affect basically everything.
Bluetooth security might as well be a flashing neon sign of your data.
Now it’s not quite that simple and some people have updated their devices etc……
But almost nobody actually has done that because Bluetooth devices are “fire and forget”
I mean when’s the last time you updated the firmware on your headphones or keyboard?
Mostly “never”
You have to be pretty close to sniff Bluetooth data though. So fine at home, less so in a busy public space. (The chances of someone there trying to hack your Bluetooth is still astranomically small)
Low odds because “you aren’t worth the effort required” agreed.
But the distance officially is like 33 feet to 300 feet depending on the adapter.
But its between Android and a Laptop, surely OP update those, right?
The firmware on the devices likely isn’t updated much by the manufacturers.
So “it really depends”
Unfortunately unlike WiFi, the encryption is built into the firmware in ways that don’t update much because they make everything backwards compatible so you don’t notice.
Android will update and restart your shit without consent at night so your phone doesn’t fully boot and your alarm doesn’t go off. Ask how I know.
There’s a way (at least on samsung) to disable auto updates.
Turn off “Auto update over wifi”, then mark all wifi networks as “metered”. Voila! The system will treat wifi as mobile data and not auto download the update.
Btw, in modern android versions, alarm will work in BFU (Before First Unlock) mode if you use the system clock app. (
third-party alarm apps will not work in BFU modeActually, third-party alarm apps do work)Then there’s a nonzero chance I coincidentally slept through it or shut it off while sleeping.