SMARTPHONE SECURITY: BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR BLUETOOTH SETTINGS

Bluetooth offers great wireless convenience for your smartphone, allowing you to connect to your headphones, car stereo, wireless speaker, and other devices without dealing with a tangle of cords and wires. However, most of us aren’t careful enough when it comes to Bluetooth security.

As a general rule, you should turn Bluetooth off on your phone whenever you’re not connected to a device. Forgetting to turn it off will reduce your battery life because it continues to drain power even when there’s no device connected. But, there are even more serious concerns than that.

New hacker technologies, called “Blueborne” can scan for open Bluetooth connections and gain access to your device. Once a device has been hacked, it can then be used to gain access to additional devices. It’s not limited to one manufacturer either. Samsung, Google, Apple, and several car audio systems have all shown vulnerabilities.

So as a best practice, follow these two tips:

1. Keep your phone updated. When Apple or Android releases an update, it’s not just for new operating system features—it also patches security issues.

2. Make it a habit to turn off Bluetooth. As soon as you step out of your car or power down your headphones, you should turn off the Bluetooth on your phone. If nothing else, your battery will last a little longer.

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