Bluetooth SIG (Bluetooth SIG), which has over 25,000 member companies worldwide, recently held a press briefing on the theme of "Bluetooth 4.2, Imagination Becomes Reality." We heard a brief explanation about the security and privacy aspects of Bluetooth 4.2 from Errett Kroeter, Senior Director of Brand and Developer Marketing at Bluetooth SIG, who presented on the endless possibilities that Bluetooth 4.2 offers.

e4ds: During your presentation on Bluetooth 4.2, you mentioned privacy features and said that IP addresses can be continuously changed to prevent eavesdropping. How much importance does Bluetooth 4.2 place on privacy issues, and what kinds of additional protection layers does it have beyond the switch to 128-bit AES?

Errett Kroeter: Bluetooth devices have multiple security and privacy layers in place. The privacy feature we have encodes addresses for Bluetooth devices, which continuously change, making tracking impossible. Additionally, we have government-grade encryption capabilities, so data security is guaranteed. After connection is established, it is very difficult to hack the actual data content itself. There is also functionality inherited from previous Bluetooth versions, which makes it very difficult to determine which radio frequency the data is coming from, so hackers would find it difficult to actually use devices to intercept these data transmissions and learn their contents. We have enhanced Bluetooth 4.2 by adding more features on top of a foundation of many basic technologies for security and privacy.

e4ds: How much difference does government-grade security in Bluetooth 4.2 have compared to typical consumer-grade security?

Errett Kroeter: This is the same level of security as seen in 128-bit encryption, which is a very strong encryption standard used in fields like banking transactions where secure connections must be established.

e4ds: Are you saying the same technology is used at both consumer and government levels?

Errett Kroeter: Yes, many organizations use this standard, and it is required for government work. Many other companies also use this same encryption technology because it is widely recognized as a powerful technology.

e4ds: Have tests been conducted on whether this technology is hackable?

Errett Kroeter: It has already been done in other fields. And Bluetooth SIG has used technology that is considered the strongest in the industry. According to some reports, hacking content encrypted this way would require hundreds of years of computation by a supercomputer.

e4ds: What are the differences in encryption and privacy protection between Bluetooth 4.2 and previous versions?

Errett Kroeter: There have been three upgrades from 4.0 to 4.1 and now to 4.2. Currently, through privacy features, the addresses of Bluetooth devices are made unknown.

e4ds: Is this a feature that did not exist before?

Errett Kroeter: That is correct.

e4ds: I understand. Thank you.