Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual page 594

A PIN number provides basic protection against unwanted connections. Mobile phones
usually query the PIN when establishing the first contact (or when setting up a device
contact on the phone). For two devices to be able to communicate, both must identify
themselves with the same PIN. On the computer, the PIN is located in the file /etc/
bluetooth/pin.
IMPORTANT: Security of Bluetooth Connections
Despite the PINs, the transmission between two devices may not be fully secure.
By default, the authentication and encryption of Bluetooth connections is de-
activated. Activating authentication and encryption may result in communication
problems with some Bluetooth devices.
Various settings, such as the device names and the security mode, can be changed in
the configuration file /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf. Usually, the default settings
should be adequate. The file contains comments describing the options for the various
settings.
Two sections in the included file are designated as options and device. The first
contains general information that hcid uses for starting. The latter contains settings for
the individual local Bluetooth devices.
One of the most important settings of the options section is security auto;.
If set to auto, hcid tries to use the local PIN for incoming connections. If it fails, it
switches to none and establishes the connection anyway. For increased security, this
default setting should be set to user to make sure that the user is requested to enter a
PIN every time a connection is established.
Set the name under which the computer is displayed on the other side in the device
section. The device class, such as Desktop, Laptop, or Server, is defined in this
section. Authentication and encryption are also enabled or disabled here.
29.2.3 System Components and Utilities
The operability of Bluetooth depends on the interaction of various services. At least
two background daemons are needed: hcid (host controller interface daemon), which
serves as an interface for the Bluetooth device and controls it, and sdpd (service discov-
ery protocol daemon), by means of which a device can find out which services the host
makes available. If they are not activated automatically when the system is started, ac-
578 Deployment Guide