Google to replace Titan keys for free after uncovering Bluetooth flaw

The vulnerability would require an outsider to already have obtained a victim's username and password.

Google is recalling its Titan security key after discovering a Bluetooth vulnerability that could allow a hacker located within roughly 30 feet of the device to communicate with it, the company announced Wednesday.

Google released the key-shaped Titan last August, offering the physical authentication tool as a remedy to phishing and other attacks. The device connects with other hardware via Bluetooth pairing. A misconfiguration in its protocol could allow attackers to communicate with the security key or communicate with the device connected to it, Google said.

This vulnerability is difficult to exploit, the company said, and would require an outsider to already have obtained a victim’s username and password to access their account.

Google is offering free replacements to affected users.

“This security issue does not affect the primary purpose of security keys, which is to protect you against phishing by a remote attacker,” the company said in a blog post. “Security keys remain the strongest available protection against phishing it is still safer to use a key that has this issue, rather than turning offer security key-based two-step verification on your Google Account or downgrading to less phishing-resistant methods (e.g. SMS codes or prompts sent to your device).”

Mark Risher, Google’s head of account security,  tweeted that the “issue relates to the Bluetooth Low Energy pairing protocol, and not to the cryptographic properties of the key itself[.]”

Titan is one of several key-shaped products designed to add an extra layer of security beyond a user’s password. Competitors include Yubico’s line of devices.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure