Bluetooth low energy (BLE) privacy: A new method for tracking users
Himanshu Jain, Neelesh Kumar Gupta · 2024
Bluetooth low energy (BLE) is a low-power wireless technology that is used in a wide range of devices, including wearable, fitness trackers, and smart home devices. BLE devices often use a privacy feature called Bluetooth LE privacy to protect users’ personal information. However, recent research has shown that it is possible to track users even when they are using Bluetooth LE privacy. In this paper, we propose a new method for tracking users who are using Bluetooth LE privacy. Our method is based on the observation that wearable devices have unique characteristics, such as the frequency, length, and type of BLE signals that they advertise. We use these characteristics to identify users and track their movements. We evaluated our method on a dataset of BLE signals collected from a university campus. We were able to track users with an accuracy of 90%. Our results show that it is possible to track users even when they are using Bluetooth LE privacy. Our findings have implications for the privacy of BLE users. We recommend that BLE device manufacturers take steps to improve the privacy of their devices. This could include using stronger encryption or making it more difficult to track users based on their BLE signals.