First Advisor

Primal Pappachan

Term of Graduation

Winter 2026

Date of Publication

2-26-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Language

English

Subjects

BLE trackers, Bluetooth Low Energy, Context-aware monitoring, Object location networks, Suspicious device detection

Physical Description

1 online resource (x, 142 pages)

Abstract

The usage of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based tracker devices for stalking has become a salient privacy concern. Detecting unwanted or suspicious trackers is challenging due to their cross-platform compatibility issues, inconsistent detection methods, and lack of an industry-wide standard for detecting malicious devices. BL(u)E CRAB, Bluetooth Low Energy Connection Risk Assessment Benchmarking, scans data and generates risk factors about nearby devices to classify them as suspicious or not. These risk factors include the number of encounters the user had with a device, the duration of time a device has been near the user, the distance a device has traveled with the user, the number of areas the device appeared in, the device's proximity to the user, and the stability of the device's signal strength. After collecting this information, BL(u)E CRAB uses one of several classifiers adapted to these risk factors to determine whether a device is suspicious or not. We have integrated a multitude of new device classifier methods, including single- and multi-dimensional clustering methods. We evaluated these classifiers against existing methods using a diverse dataset of BLE tracker data in various real-world scenarios. The benchmark results show the efficacy of different classifiers in identifying suspicious BLE trackers. We also developed a working prototype of BL(u)E CRAB that is easy to use, customizable, and can easily integrate other classifiers.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44573

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