A Service-Level Security Protocol for Bluetooth Scatternets

Bluetooth is the term used to describe the protocol of short-range, and frequency hopping radio link between devices. Bluetooth enables users to connect wirelessly to a wide range of computing and communication devices easily and it provides opportunities for rapid ad hoc connections. In this type of networks, security is one of the main issues. Bluetooth link-level security provides authentication of the communicating participants and exchange of encrypted data at the link-level. The existing Bluetooth security mechanism has limitations regarding strength, flexibility and efficiency. In this paper, a critical analysis on Bluetooth link-level security mechanism is provided, and a new Bluetooth service-level security protocol is proposed to overcome the limitations of the existing security mechanism.