__NOTOC__ Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

s, PDAs or

laptop computers A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a Flip (form), clam shell Form factor (design), form factor with the computer scr ...

, sending a

vCard vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging, NFC ...

which typically contains a message in the name field (i.e., for bluedating or bluechat) to another Bluetooth-enabled device via the

OBEX OBEX (abbreviation of OBject EXchange, also termed IrOBEX) is a communications protocol that facilitates the exchange of binary objects between devices. It is maintained by the Infrared Data Association but has also been adopted by the Bluetooth S ...

protocol. Bluetooth has a very limited range, usually around on mobile phones, but laptops can reach up to with powerful ( Class 1) transmitters.

Origins

Bluejacking was reportedly first carried out between 2001 and 2003 by a Malaysian IT consultant who used his phone to advertise

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in inform ...

to a single

Nokia 7650 The Nokia 7650 is a 2.5G consumer-oriented smartphone belonging to the fashion and experimental ( 7xxx) series. It was introduced in Barcelona on 19 November 2001, and was described by CEO Jorma Ollila as the company's most important launch of th ...

phone owner in a Malaysian bank. He also invented the name, which he claims is an amalgam of

and ''ajack'', his username on Esato, a Sony Ericsson fan online forum. ''Jacking'' is, however, an extremely common shortening of "hijack', the act of taking over something. Ajack's original posts are hard to find, but references to the exploit are common in 2003 posts. Another user on the forum claims earlier discovery, reporting a near-identical story to that attributed to ''Ajack'', except they describe bluejacking 44 Nokia 7650 phones instead of one, and the location is a garage, seemingly in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, rather than a Malaysian Bank. Also, the message was an insult to Nokia owners rather than a

Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...

advertisement.

Usage

Bluejacking is usually not very harmful but the issue arises when we consider that the bluejacked people generally don't know what has happened, they may think that their phone is malfunctioning. Usually, a bluejacker will only send a text message, but with modern phones it's possible to send images or sounds as well. Bluejacking has been used in

guerrilla marketing Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service. It is a type of publicity. The term was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson's 1984 ...

campaigns to promote

advergame An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product. While other video games may use in-game advertising (s ...

s. Bluejacking is also confused with

Bluesnarfing Bluesnarfing is the unauthorized access of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection, often between phones, desktops, laptops, and PDAs (personal digital assistant). This allows access to calendars, contact lists, emails ...

, which is the way in which mobile phones are illegally hacked via Bluetooth.

Companies

BluejackQ

BlueJackQ is a website dedicated to bluejacking. The website contains a few bluejacking stories taken from the site's forum. The website also includes software that can be used for bluejacking and guides on how to bluejack which are slightly out of date but the basic principle still applies to most makes of phone. Its forum has 4,000 registered users and 93,050 posts.bluejackQ.com :: Index
The website has been featured in many news articles.bluejackQ and jellyellie in the media - bluejackQ.com
The forums were opened on the November 13, 2003 and has been the center of BluejackQ from the start. It currently has 4 moderators and has 20 different sections available to members. The areas included information about BluejackQ, reviews of mobile phones, media players, PDAs and Miscellaneous devices, general bluejacking threads and an off-topic area. The BluejackQ

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

was first released as a test version on January 15, 2006, thus becoming the first bluejacking-related podcast. Podcasts 1, 2 and 3 featured three members of the forums.

Fictional reference in ''Person of Interest''

The authentic bluejacking as described here is not the same exploit which was frequently depicted in the television series ''

Person of Interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no le ...

''; that fictional exploit portrayed different and more invasive capabilities.

References