Is IOS Bluetooth LE encryption required?

Question

My colleagues are developing on the TI CC2540, and they want to sniff the message as much as possible.

Does the basic bluetooth iOS platform support security level 1 security level (i.e. encryption and authorization) for arbitrary peripherals and services? If this happens, the data stream will appear much more transparent.

Answer 1

I would think that this is necessary, since not all BLE devices use encryption. From the Apple Bluetooth Design Guide:

“The Bluetooth accessory must not require special permissions, such as pairing, authentication, or encryption, to detect services and characteristics. Special permissions may be required to access the characteristic value or descriptor value. See Bluetooth 4.0 Specification, Volume 3, Part G, Section 8.1 fifth paragraph. "

In addition, personal experience does not require authentication to use the key fob included with the TI CC2450 Mini Development Kit. I am currently using key fob as a reference platform to add BLE support to techBASIC. I managed to access all the key phob functions from my own application without authentication. The TI demo does the same.

So, if any authentication is required to use CC2540 (and based on the quote above, I don't think so), it is completely transparent at the software level.

Just for fun, here is a snapshot of the TechBASIC app associated with the TI CC2450 Mini Development Kit keychain. Again, this was done without authentication.