Are SDK examples (ble_app_blinky) ble-secure at transport level?

[Ajay Garg]

Hi All.

We have flashed the hex-file of ble_app_blinky for pca10040 on the debugger, and things work fine.

We are using sdk-15.2 with softdevice-6.1.1

So, a question, does this example (and the sdk-examples in general) incorporate ble-security at transport level? By transport level, we require that the data-transfer between peers must be "encrypted-over-the-wire", so that no one can read the data on-the-fly.

So, does the ble-stack in the sdk-examples already takes care of this? Or some extra bootstrapping needs to be done?

Will be grateful for pointers.

Thanks and Regards,

Ajay

[bjorn-spockeli]

Hi Ajay, 

No, the ble_app_blinky does not enable encryption of the BLE Link by default, this functionality must be added  in the code. 

There are several examples in the SDK that uses the Paring feature of BLE ( encryption of the link):

• Glucose Application - This example uses paring with Man-in-the-Middle protection.
• HID Keyboard Application - This examples uses paring without Man-in-the-Middle protection, i.e no passkey entry or OOB information. 

I suggest that you take a look at the Peripheral Legacy Pairing Message Sequence Charts that show which events that must be handled to encrypt the link. 

Best regards

Bjørn