Turn off Bluetooth on your mobile phone: why do authorities recommend this trick?

Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to steal personal data such as passwords and emails. They can use this information to blackmail or scam people. Sometimes, even the basic functions of your computer are compromised. mobile can become a vulnerability, which means we are all exposed to security risks.

Recently, the Spanish National Police has warned about a threat called bluesnarfing,where hackers use your smartphone’s Bluetooth connection to access your personal data, messages and multimedia files. This is worrying because Bluetooth is usually enabled by default on many devices, making these types of attacks easier.

To protect yourself from bluesnarfing, The National Police recommends deactivating Bluetooth when you’re not using it. This prevents your phone from automatically connecting to unauthorized devices and reduces the risk of being hacked.

An additional security measure is to adjust the Bluetooth settings on your Android phone to limit the number of devices it can connect to simultaneously. However, this setting is not visible by default and requires enabling developer options on your device.

According to Computer Hoy, the steps to do this are as follows:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to “About phone” and tap “Build number” several times until developer mode is activated.
3. Go back to Settings and look for “Developer options.”
4. Within the developer options, find the Bluetooth settings.
5. Set “Maximum connected Bluetooth devices” to 1.
6. Restart your phone to apply the changes.

These steps will limit simultaneous Bluetooth connections on your device, improving security.