DAVE ROSS

How hackers might follow your every move with simple tech

Jun 4, 2017, 7:31 AM

hacker...

(AP file photo)

(AP file photo)

Hackers may need only your bluetooth to follow your every move.

“Every device with bluetooth, it’s encrypted,” Joe Fitzpatrick, instructor and researcher at SecuringHardware.com, told Seattle’s Morning News.

RELATED: Sick of being tracked by Google? Pay with cash

Simple, cheap hardware can find a bluetooth device by its identification number, Fitzpatrick explained. A hacker can then “aggregate that data and know headset #12345 is always at this restaurant at 5 p.m. Wednesdays.”

When you bring this method to scale, you can potentially track a single bluetooth device.

“Let’s say I have 100 devices and I put one at every intersection in a 10×10 block area,” Fitzpatrick said. “I can track who walks from where to where. If you live in this area I can tell someone left his apartment at 8 a.m. every day and went to this office building, and left that office building and went to this bar.”

It gets more complex than just the bluetooth technology. Fitzpatrick points to devices, each with its own identification number, that monitor each tire on a car for air pressure, etc. They send a signal to a computer in the vehicle to report the information. A hacker can then track the tires in a similar way to bluetooth devices.

This is the sort of information swapped at the hacker conference in Seattle last month. Fitzpatrick spoke on bluetooth and how the tracking method has likely already been used.

“When someone talks about what they can do at a hacker conference, publicly, it’s pretty much safe to assume somebody has been doing something similar, privately, for a longer period of time and doesn’t have permission to speak about it,” he said.

You can listen to Fitzpatrick’s interview with KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross here.

Dave's Commentary

Dave Ross on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to dave rossTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.

Dave Ross

car culture...

Dave Ross

Ross: Are we killing car culture? Or is car culture killing the US?

I don’t think the question is whether we're going to "kill" our car culture. The real question is can we stop our car culture from killing the U.S.?

4 days ago

drivers data insurance...

Dave Ross

Ross: As cars release driving data to insurance, is your driving my business?

Every move you make, every swerve you take, every lane change you fake – someone’s watching you. Do drivers have a right to keep driving data private?

11 days ago

rent control...

Dave Ross

Ross: Rent control was never the answer in Wash.

The rent control bill died in the Washington State Legislature this week, even though Democrats control both houses.

1 month ago

end of democracy...

Dave Ross

Ross: Conservative activist earns applause for pledging an ‘end of Democracy’

The theme from Jack Posobiec's speech is that Jan. 6 was a righteous attack not on democracy, but on those who threaten democracy.

1 month ago

Image: Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, is seen on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo: Alex Brand...

Dave Ross

Ross: Voters can help cull bad politicians from the herd early

Let's remember that just about every occupant of a higher office once occupied a lower office, and was put there by us, Dave Ross says.

1 month ago

Super Bowl celebration...

Dave Ross

Ross: The NFL does it again

The NFL once again put on a show that was able to keep me tuned in for four hours even though I had no stake in either team.

2 months ago

How hackers might follow your every move with simple tech