An Enhanced Approach to Providing Secure Point-to-Multipoint Communication in Bluetooth Piconets

In this paper, we suggest an extended security approach for Bluetooth´s point-to-multipoint communication. Bluetooth specification defines the basic security measures like, key generation, authentication and encryption for a piconet- which is the basic network unit of maximum 8 active Bluetooth devices. How ever, very little effort has been given so far on point- to-multipoint communication security in Bluetooth piconets. In this paper, we discover a Bluetooth security flaw in point-to-multipoint communication based on the master-key generation/regeneration process, for which, we suggested an appropriate prevention scheme. We analyze all possible alternative measures that can be taken before the master-key generation process starts in a master node and then we end up with an appropriate resolution. Our proposed solution expands the point-to-multipoint security and, is compatible with the existing Bluetooth specification.