A Secured Bluetooth Based Social Network

Abstract

Bluetooth is a technology for short range wireless real-time data transfer between devices. It is becoming increasingly more prevalent in modern society, with technical gadgets now ranging from mobile phones and game controllers to PDAs and personal computers. In Bangladesh, use of technology has not reached its maximum potential and it is yet to spread among the majority of population and devices like PDA/Smart phones/Laptops that consist of WLAN feature is not widely used in public environments. But the use of basic mobile phones (consisting of Bluetooth feature) is greatly increasing over the years. This paper proposes a way to implement the Bluetooth Standard as a communication medium for a social network like a university in order to send and receive valuable information and services which can be used as a cheaper solution and replacement to WLAN devices. However, Bluetooth has security threats too; hence this paper also addresses the potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities in security protocols of this technology so that protection against malicious attacks, identity theft and eavesdropping can be insured. Due to the public nature of this network some application level security features have been incorporated to make it a safer network. Finally, the paper concludes with some recommendations for the future works regarding this Bluetooth networking concept. General Terms Wireless, Bluetooth, networking, Piconet, security threats, counter measures.