ble authentication and pairing

[Martijn Jonkers]

Hi,

I have looked around the internet and am trying to understand the ble security options. I cannot understand the correct approach to take for our application.

Our situation is that we have a peripheral which is only allowed to connect a specific windows application for a specific client. Different clients have different peripherals it can connect to and use the same windows application. They are not allowed to connect to each others peripherals. and third party central apps like phone apps and other widows applications etc. are not allowed to connect.

How do we authenticate the correct application being used and prevent any other device from interacting?

I am leaning towards an open security on the bluetooth level and implement an encryption/authentication on application level, but that is not as ble is intended. Another option is OOB and use the internet on the windows machine to get the pairing information for the specific peripheral. But the windows machines are not always in range of wifi when used with the ble periheral, so we really like to prevent internet usage on the windows machine. NFC is not an option, we do have NFC on the peripheral device. But it is not practically reachable in the machines being used. I see an option where the peripheral pairing information is downloaded in the office and it can be used when interacting with the peripheral when no internet is available?

Any advice would be great.

Thank you!

[sipan112]

hello

When the pairing procedure has been completed, the following changes are displayed:

• A log entry shows the new security level of the connection.
• The connection info padlock changes to locked if the connection is encrypted.
• The event view text turns green to indicate success.

and may this link will be helpful: Nordic Semiconductor Infocenter

[Martijn Jonkers]

thank you. But I do not see how this answers my question.

[Sigurd]

Link to your other post: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/84233/oob-pairing-other-than-nfc

Another option could be some sort of USB dongle that have that bonding information stored / linked to the peripheral, and the peripheral have the central/dongle information stored.

[mrono]

Is it a requirement that the peripheral is tied to a specific client from the very beginning? If it were acceptable that the device bonds to the first client it encounters, then you could use regular bonding over BLE. You could add an application level authentication method to make sure the initial bond is made to your application and not some phone app or such.

[Martijn Jonkers]

nice idea. But a requirement is that we can use the bluetooth features of windows, so no additional hardware is needed.