Your Bluetooth headphones may be at risk of being hacked - here's how to stay protected

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• WhisperPair vulnerabilities impact a protocol for connecting devices and audio products.
• Attackers can take over an audio device, tamper with controls, and potentially listen to your conversations.
• Many vendors have released patches, but some devices are still vulnerable

Researchers have disclosed WhisperPair, a family of vulnerabilities that impact a protocol commonly used to pair headphones, earbuds, and other audio products with Bluetooth devices.

Also: Your Windows PC needs this patch to ward off nasty bootkit malware - update now

What is WhisperPair?

As first reported by Wired, WhisperPair was uncovered by a team of researchers from Belgium's KU Leuven University, supported by the government's Cybersecurity Research Program. 

The findings relate to the improper implementation of Google's Fast Pair protocol, which enables one-tap pairing and account synchronization across Bluetooth accessories. If the protocol hasn ...