Ashvin's blog - home to all PWLLCHDGIIHEH

Bluejacking

2008-08-14T18:25:00.002+04:00

My friend Ritesh Teeluck has just sent me and a couple of friends an interesting email about bluejacking. Wanna know what's it about so, start reading:

what is bluejacking?

Have you ever been doorbell ditching before? The point of the prank is simple: Sneak up to someone's front door, knock loudly or ring the doorbell, and, instead of greeting whoever answers the door, run away and hide somewhere nearby. The joy of doorbell ditching is, of course, reveling in the homeowner's confusion and rolling with laughter under the security of his nicely trimmed bushes. Although the game might get you in a bit of trouble if you happen to incite the ire of a cranky neighbor, it's mostly a harmless joke on par with a prank phone call.

Could this man, with his mobile phone and Bluetooth headset, be waiting to bluejack the nearest unsuspecting bystander? What is bluejacking, anyway?

For more technically inclined pranksters with access to Bluetooth technology, however, there's the digital version of doorbell ditching and prank phone calls: Bluejacking. A kind of practical joke played out between Bluetooth-enabled devices, bluejacking takes advantage of a loophole in the technology's messaging options that allows a user to send unsolicited messages to other nearby Bluetooth owners.

The only difference between doorbell ditching and bluejacking is that bluejacking usually isn't done on your neighbor's lawn. Instead, a bluejacker will most likely camp out in crowded areas like shopping malls, airports and subway systems to find victims -- places with a potentially high percentage of people with Bluetooth-enabled devices. The trend has even fostered fan Web sites, where Bluetooth users inform newcomers how to bluejack, trade tips and post amusing bluejacking stories that include every keystroke and puzzled look.

So how is bluejacking done? What is it about Bluetooth technology that makes it possible to bluejack? Does it have anything to do with hijacking information from another Bluetooth device, and can it cause any harm? Are there any privacy concerns? To learn how bluejackers engage each other, confuse one another or simply annoy innocent bystanders, read the next page.

Bluetooth Bluejack

Bluetooth technology operates by using low-power radio waves, communicating on a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz. This special frequency is also known as the ISM band, an open, unlicensed band set aside for industrial, scientific and medical devices. When a number of Bluetooth devices are switched on in the same area, they all share the same ISM band and can locate and communicate with each other, much like a pair of walkie talkies tuned to the same frequency are able to link up.

Is this man setting himself up as a bluejacking target?

DreamPictures/Getty Images
By switching a Bluetooth device to the discoverable setting, Bluetooth users can find and contact one another.

Bluetooth technology users take advantage of this ability to network with other phones and can send text messages or electronic business cards to each other. To send information to another party, the user creates a personal contact name in his or her phone's address book -- the name can be anything from the sender's actual name to a clever nickname.

Bluejackers have devised a simple technique to surprise their victims: Instead of creating a legitimate name in the address book, the bluejacker's message takes the place of the name. The prank essentially erases the "from" part of the equation, allowing a user to send any sort of comment he wishes without indentifying himself.

For instance, if you're sitting in a coffee shop and notice a fellow Bluetooth user sitting down to enjoy a cup of iced coffee, you could set up a contact under the name "Is your coffee cold enough?" After choosing to send the text via Bluetooth, the phone will search for other enabled Bluetooth devices; selecting one will send the unsolicited message to that device. A bluejacker's crowning moment comes, of course, when the victim receives the message and expresses a mild mix of confusion and fear that he's under surveillance.

Bluejacking is imprecise, however. Searching for other Bluetooth-enabled hardware might turn up a list of devices labeled with a series of numbers and letters. Unless the bluejacker's target has chosen to publicly identify his or her phone, or it's the only Bluetooth phone in the area, the bluejacker may have a hard time messaging his or her target on the first try.

After bluejacking turned into a small tech subculture in 2003, several Web sites emerged, offering how-to's and forums for trading stories. But there's even a bluejacking code of ethics, according to bluejackQ.com. Bluejackers should refrain, for example, from sending insulting or threatening messages to others, and if no interest is shown in communication after two messages, the bluejacker should cease activity in order to avoid annoying anyone. The point of bluejacking, according to its proponents, is to have fun, not cause complete anarchy.

some links:
http://www.bluejackq.com/
http://www.bluejackingtools.com/

Welcome to the Working Class

2008-08-01T18:53:00.002+04:00

Finally!!!!

Today was my first day of work in my whole life. I'm the new Analyst programmer at Harel Mallac Outsourcing and my day was just great.

I could not have thought of a better one. I worked and as i am new, it was and uneventful day with no stress at all.

But the only thing that bugs me is that my back is aching. It's worse than after attending a three hour lecture at the university. Then, it was my ass that was aching. I guess i should have expected that. And its just the start, coz just after work, am home and i've already switched on my pc and am chatting on msn and blogging. I need some exercise. And that's exactly what am going to do.

Till next time.

P.S Did i tell u i had a great day? :)

Terminator Salvation

2008-07-31T20:50:00.004+04:00

The new Terminator film is currently in production and is called "TERMINATOR SALVATION". At last, the setting is at the beginning of the war between humans and robots. We'll be able to see the state in which humanity is, after skynet launched a nuclear missile at the end of the last film. Actor Christian Bale will be starring as John Connor. Here's the poster of the film:

The first two films in the franchise were excellent with good plot and plenty of action. The third one saw an aged Arnold acting as the cyborg and one could think "wow cyborgs also get old". But i felt that the film was not so bad and the better part was the climax when the cyborg sent John Connor away to hide and save his ass while we thought he was going to destroy skynet.

I watched the trailer of the movie (found here with a small plot summary) and i am really impatient for its release. i really hope the movie will be as successful as the others. Its also possible that "Salvation" is the first of a trilogy but i am not so sure.

So till next time, enjoy.

Blogging platform

2008-07-30T12:45:00.003+04:00

Before i started to blog, i used to visit my friends' blog sometimes and now that i had decided to start blogging, i wanted to know which site is the most adapted for blogging by casual users like me. Many of my friends were on different blogging platforms and am nearly sure that they chose a platform based on what is the most popular in their opinion.

So before i chose a platform, i decided to surf the web to find a site where i could learn a bit more about maximizing my blogging experience.

So i noticed 2 sites that i find rather informative and helpful where i learned about hosted and non-hosted blogs, their advantages and disadvantages, blogs for businesses or personal blogs etc.

Here are the links:
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=328
http://mrjavo.com/2008/01/07/which-platform-should-i-choose-for-blogging/

Until next time.

First post. About my blog

2008-07-27T01:01:00.004+04:00

So here i am again, after trying out msn livespaces which i nearly never posted on.
I never really had the time to post anything on it. The reasons are because i was in my final year at the university of Mauritius, that i was pressured into sleepless nights concentrating on my project and sometimes revision, that i did not find anyting interesting to post, that i did not have a wide variety of hobbies, occupations, i did not surf on the internet too much.

And now i have started to blog here coz sometimes i need to post something ( i've already 5 items on my mind) . Im starting to think that i dont have anything to lose by posting something every now and then and that i'll get some self satisfaction in writing my thoughts.

Most importantly i think i need change. So after having resisted the latest trend of being on facebook, i finally registered. i watched documentaries and read things on the internet saying approximately, and that may or may not be true, that facebook use information gathered from their site to target people for advertising or using facebook could make you disclose very personal things that can affect your life negatively e.g. a girl was thrown out of college due to some pictures on facebook. But i personnally think that as long as you have control on what u decide to share, u r solely responsible for your actions.

Now i find facebook quite entertaining with all its small apps especially the create your own vampire, zombie thing: im addicted to that coz i like playing games where u get stats and u concentrate on levelling up. Even if it is simplistic, it's quite amusing and until i get tired of it, i sure waste a LOT of time on it.

So, am finished with full time studying and will start to work. hmmmm, i am in a period of transition. Things will change for the better or the worse. i need to set some priorities. But first need to know what these are. Being on vacation is good, but doing nothing is bad for mental health. Im going out, reading about vb.net and asp.net, reading books, playing a game called the witcher (rpg), watching plenty of movies and sleeping a lot. oh now i think, it's 1.30 am and i got to sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day.

So lets hope that this post is one of many to come (: