Mohammad Afaneh, Author at Novel Bits

About two weeks ago (February 11, 2020), a group of Singaporean researchers released a group of vulnerabilities discovered in quite a few BLE vendor SDKs. They named the group of vulnerabilities “SweynTooth“. Here’s their explanation: The insight behind the name SweynTooth arrives from Sweyn Forkbeard, the son of King Harald Bluetooth (after whom the Bluetooth…

Bluetooth Developer Academy The one-stop resource for Bluetooth developers February courses: Getting Started with BlueZ + BLE SecurityCheck out the full courses library Bluetooth LE devices impacted by SweynTooth vulnerabilitiesA team of academics from Singapore has published this week a research paper detailing a collection of vulnerabilities named SweynTooth that impact devices running the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol.…

Overview of Bluetooth Beacons Part 2

Bluetooth beacons are alive and well due to the low cost and widespread usage in commercial spaces like retail stores and logistics. The technology itself has been around for a while but gained widespread awareness when Apple released its iBeacon protocol in 2013. Since then, adoption and uses have increased as businesses and developers come…

Bluetooth Developer Academy The one-stop resource for Bluetooth developers This month: Getting Started with BlueZ + BLE SecurityJoin Today! Laird Connectivity Announces New Bluetooth 5.1 Module That Delivers Longer Range for Next Gen Industrial IoT EnablementLaird Connectivity, a global leader in wireless technology, has announced the new BL653 embedded Bluetooth 5.1 module series which enables industrial OEMs to…

For many of us, our first encounters with Bluetooth probably came in the form of wireless headsets and hands-free devices. However, a new breed of Bluetooth devices is emerging — they are lower in cost and they consume less power. From a non-technical and user perspective, the name Bluetooth appears to cover any form of…

Bluetooth Developer Academy The one-stop resource for Bluetooth developers This month: Getting Started with BlueZ DevelopmentJoin Today! Google open-sources the tools needed to make 2FA security keysThe initiative, called OpenSK, uses Rust-based firmware to essentially turn Nordic chip dongles into a FIDO U2F and FIDO2-compliant security key. Google has also published a source code for users to 3D…

Introduction In the previous post, Implementing Over-the-Air Device Firmware Update for nRF52 – Part 2, we introduced the OTA DFU process on the nRF52. In this post, we’ll go over testing the process using one of the DFU examples included in the nRF5 SDK, the “BLE Secure DFU Bootloader” example.. The hardware requirements for running the BLE…

Bluetooth Developer Academy The one-stop resource for Bluetooth developers This month: CES 2020 + What’s new in Bluetooth 5.2Join Today! New Research Exposes Cybersecurity Risks for E-Scooters and RidersNew research finds e-scooters can be hacked. Researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio have published the first review of the security and privacy risks posed by e-scooters and their related…

Introduction In the previous post, Implementing Over-the-Air Device Firmware Update (OTA DFU) – Part 1, we gave an introduction to over-the-air device firmware update (OTA DFU) and went over the best practices for implementing secure and efficient firmware updates. In this second post in the series, we’ll go over the OTA DFU process used and…

Bluetooth Developer Academy The most up-to-date resource for experienced Bluetooth developers This month: CES 2020 + LE Audio + The new Bluetooth 5.2 specJoin Now! Realtek RTL8720DN Dual-Band WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 IoT Modules Sell for $4 and UpThere are plenty of 2.4 GHz WiFi modules for IoT project based on processors ranging from Espressif Systems ESP8266…

Introduction One of the most important and critical features of wirelessly-connected devices is the capability of over-the-air device firmware updates (aka OTA DFU). You may be asking “why is this becoming an increasingly popular and in-demand feature?” Well, it’s due to many good reasons, some of which are: The increasing demand by end-users for new…

Bluetooth Developer Academy Practical Courses + Continuous Education + Private CommunityThis month: Exclusive CES 2020 & LE Audio coverageJoin Now! Ellisys Ready on Day One of Highly Anticipated Bluetooth® 5.2 Roll-OutEllisys, a leading worldwide provider of test and analysis solutions for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi®, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and other wired and wireless communications technologies, today…

What is the Zephyr Project? Zephyr is an open-source real-time operating system (RTOS) meant for use on resource-constrained embedded systems. This can range from simple sensor devices without connectivity to much more complex IoT devices such as smartwatches and medical devices. Zephyr is a Linux Foundation project that is backed by many members including Intel, NXP Semiconductors, Synopsys, Linaro, Texas…

Bluetooth Developer Academy Bluetooth Training + Continuous Education + Private CommunityThis month: Exclusive CES 2020 & Bluetooth LE Audio coverageLearn More Bluetooth LE Audio: multistreaming, new codec (but no lossless)Active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones have been around for a number of years but in 2019, the technology made the leap to True Wireless Earphones (TWE). First came…

Introduction Bluetooth Low Energy was designed to provide considerably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining communication ranges similar to Bluetooth Classic. However, that is no longer the case. With Bluetooth Version 5.0, a new “long-range” mode was introduced. You can now achieve ranges of over 1 kilometer using Bluetooth Low Energy! Long-range mode is…

Bluetooth Developer Academy Bluetooth Training + Continuous Education + Private CommunityThis month: Exclusive CES 2020 coverage & Bluetooth announcementsLearn More STMicroelectronics Unleashes Full Power of Bluetooth® Mesh to Enable Scalable Wireless Sensor NetworksWith the release of Bluetooth® mesh software stacks for the BlueNRG family of Bluetooth Low Energy chips and modules, STMicroelectronics will demonstrate the many…

Atmosic gets boost toward first product launchAtmosic Technologies has completed its Series B funding, with USD 28.5 million raised, in anticipation of its upcoming inaugural product launch. The latest injection of funding will be put toward the launch of Atmosic’s M2 and M3 series Bluetooth 5 system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for commercial products in early 2020,…

Nordic Semiconductor samples nRF21540 RF Front End Module – a ‘plug and play’ range extender for its short-range wireless portfolioThe nRF21540 RF Front End Module is a range extender optimized to boost the link budget of Nordic’s nRF52 and nRF53 Series advanced multiprotocol wireless SoCs. When combined with an nRF52 Series SoC, the nRF21540 RF…

BtleJack: a new Bluetooth Low Energy swiss-army knifeBtlejack provides everything you need to sniff, jam and hijack Bluetooth Low Energy devices. It relies on one or more BBC Micro:Bit. devices running a dedicated firmware. You may also want to use an Adafruit’s Bluefruit LE sniffer or a nRF51822 Eval Kit, as we added support for these devices. Current version…

Bluetooth Low Energy Serial: A Valid Design Strategy?At some point in developing a connected product for BLE, you may have wondered, “Where is the serial profile?” Maybe you assumed that you missed it while scrolling through the long lists of profiles on the Bluetooth SIG’s website. Or, maybe you never looked, preferring the faster method of…