Ask HN: Are bluetooth keyboards secure?

3 pointsseestraw2 comments

I’ve always wondered, can someone just sniff your keystrokes? I know that many keyboards use AES encryption (for e.g, Apple states so on their site), but that information doesn’t seem to be available for most keyboards.

Am I being paranoid? Is encryption a standard part of the Bluetooth protocol nowadays?

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Since BT v2.1 once a device is paired, it and the connection point have a shared Link Key. The LK is only used to authenticate the connection. Once connection is established the two ends derive an encryption key to protect the data being exchanged. For practical purposes you can presume the connection to be sufficiently secured.

Somebody with a SDR could potentially sniff a connection from pairing phase onwards and with sufficiently powerful computing power crack the keys used and thus read the keystrokes. AFAIK such a crack hasn't been reported. As for can the NSA or CIA do it? Well they're not saying.

Thanks!

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