Don’t tell my son, but Santa is bringing us a Wii for Christmas.

And by ‘Santa’, I mean my enterprising husband - who hunted one down over Black Friday and stuffed it in the back of our closet. This is the display of some of the greatest restraint ever shown by a techno-crazy man.

One of my concerns about getting a Wii was the barrage of ‘Ping! Splat! Wowza!’ that would echo through our house at all hours as we engaged in Mario-Sonic Olympics.

Not to worry.

As it turns out, Wii is Bluetooth-enabled. An excuse, if ever one was needed, to buy several MoGo Headsets when they roll into production. This will create a truly personal and wireless playing experience.

On the flip side, having those cool Wii-remotes (’Wiimotes’) be Bluetooth-based means that several enterprising hackers have found ways to turn them into mice for your computer.

Because the remotes aren’t designed for that use (unlike the MoGo x54 series) , the results of these experiments have been very interesting.

Perhaps my favorite is the guys who turned their Wii motes into Lightsabers on their Macs.

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As computing crawled out of its niche and into the mainstream 15, 20 years ago, hackers often painted themselves as a necessary good. Independent, savvy, dedicated individuals who felt that by exposing weaknesses, they were making the computing world a better place.

Software companies, like Microsoft, rarely agreed. Hackers were frozen out of corporate positions, maligned in the press, and the subjects of a Cold War that endured for over a decade.

It didn’t stop them.

Ultimately, the old adage ‘keep your friends close; your enemies closer’ kicked in and several companies beganconsulting with and hiring hackers to help them build safer, more robust products.

As Microsoft battles a year which may be remembered more for its security holes than anything else I was fascinated to read - Ina Fried’s C|Net series about how Microsoft has finally thawed and begun brining in hackers (”Bug Hunters’) every 6 months to work with their security teams.

Battling the generations of mistrust, the two sides break up the formality with bug costumes, late-night scavenger hunts, and joke cracking.

2 years into this glasnost, will better relations mean a safer product for you in the years to come? One can only imagine it’s a step in the right direction.

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A. Ever since Tyler first posted about his dislike of ‘Bluecasting’ (also known as Bluejacking) , it’s got a lot of people asking me - if it’s so easy to push unwanted information TO a Bluetooth headset, does that mean people can PULL information through my Bluetooth device, too?

The simple answer is yes.

Since almost the very moment Bluetooth was released, hackers have been building ways to crack it.

The first Bluetooth breaches were through an early security hole. Nicknamed “Bluebugging: “, hackers took advantage of this backdoor to eavesdrop as well as access and even overwrite a phone’s address book and text message files. As with any Bluetooth security breach, the hacker had to be within 30 feet of your phone.

Starting in 2005, most new Bluetooth-enabled phones were cured of this, although hackers are always writing new code and new programs to breach security.

As that hole was being plugged, hackers discovered that Bluetooth phones in ‘Discoverable’ mode could be accessed . This is called “Bluesnarfing“.

Unauthorized users ‘pair up’ to your Bluetooth and once linked, can steal the whole of your phone book, that’s your whole contact list, your calendar, your stored pictures, even your ring tones.

There is also something called a ‘DoS’ attack. A Denial-of-Service is a malicious hacker who broadcasts a code that makes your device unavailable to you until it reboots (turned off and then turned on again). There’s usually no breach of your information in a DoS attack, or harm to your headset or phone. It’s just idiocy for idiocy’s sake.

Should these security concerns keep you from buying and using say… a new MoGo headset?No. The good news is that there are things you can do to keep your calls and information safer.

1) Turn off discoverable mode.

Most phones are “visible” (or set to ‘Discoverable mode’) by default when Bluetooth is switched on. The safest mode is ‘Non-discoverable’:

1. Non-discoverable mode: Does not respond to inquiry - highest safety for your phone. .
2. Limited discoverable mode (or ‘Hidden’): Discoverable only for a limited period of time, during temporary conditions or for a specific event - this provides medium safety.
3. General discoverable mode: Discoverable continuously or for no specific condition - no safety from Bluejacking or Bluesnarfing.

2) Use a strong PIN code for you headset.
Not only should you choose a strong PIN, you should also be careful not to use it in public where it can caught by someone watching. If your headset and phone become unpaired, go somewhere private to link them back up .... not standing in the middle of the mall.

3) Never, ever let an unknown device pair to your phone. Periodically watch the Bluetooth symbol on your phone. If it looks different, or you see an unexpected message appear on your device asking to pair up, well, to quote Nancy Reagan - just say NO.

Unsure what the Bluetooth symbol is supposed to look like? Apple has a great article showing all the Bluetooth icons and their meanings here.

4) Keep Moving. PC Today said it well: “Unless your attacker has invested vast amounts of time and money in a long-range Bluetooth transmitter/receiver, chances are great that they will be operating within standard Bluetooth range (within 10 meters [33 feet]). If you notice something wacky happening with your smartphone or PDA and don’t know what else to do, simply get up and move away.

“If you are on a bus, train, airplane, or other confined area, simply power off your device and wait to see who reacts. If you catch them, make sure to give them a dirty look. ”

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On Fridays, MoGo Mobility’s Elizabeth will seek to answer your MoGo (and non-MoGo) technical questions.

Elizabeth is a professional writer & geek with most of the last decade spent in senior management at a leading global IT provider. Thousands have attended her seminars in the US & Canada on subjects ranging from basic TCP/IP networking to high-end data storage solutions.

Got a question? Ask Elizabeth.

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