This happened several years ago but it just came to my mind so I decided to ask...

I have a Thinkpad T410 with Linux Mint + Xfce desktop. Blueman taskbar applet is showing Bluetooth status. It shows a grey icon when Bluetooth is not connected to anything, a blue/green icon when there are active connections, and a blue icon with red "x" when Bluetooth radio is off.


I remember that sometimes the icon went blue/green even though I didn't connect any Bluetooth devices. Could this just have been a bug in Blueman software or could someone have compromised my computer over Bluetooth? I don't remember seeing any pairing dialogs or similar. Now the Bluetooth should be in non discoverable mode by default and I also usually switch it off when i don't use it. But I don't remember how it was back then.

I have only paired my laptop with my phone which has almost always Bluetooth switched off.

My first guess would be someone nearby with a Bluetooth device checking what was active in the area, maybe because they were trying to pair something with their own device. If your laptop was discoverable at the time then it should have responded, and I presume/hope that activity would have shown up on the icon. If it responded with an interesting-looking name then whoever it was might have tried again later just for kicks.

I did play with Blueman a few years back but didn't get very far, so I can't say for sure. My impression was it was pretty buggy at the time, but it was hard to tell because my hardware was buggy.

It's probably a good idea to keep Bluetooth switched off most of the time ... especially in a coffee shop.

(But I've also heard tales of people who sat on bridges above crowded rush-hour freeways, sampling Bluetooth-enabled cars. Sometimes those radio signals travel much farther than you think, especially when unleashed in big, metal objects like automobiles.)

And then there's this device that's likely to get you arrested (or shot).

Bluetooth isn't as secure as you might think.

Lots of people, unfortunately, "conveniently" use various forms of radio without fully comprehending that a radio signal can be picked-up, often at very long distances, by anyone with a properly-constructed (directional) antenna.

Thanks for answers guys. Nowadays I usually keep Bluetooth off when not using it.

Sadly I do not remember exactly how this issue happened back then.