nRF52840 USB Dongle

2026-08-04
Category
Wireless
Price range
$10 – $25

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The nRF52840 USB dongle is an inexpensive, widely available board built around Nordic Semiconductor's nRF52840 SoC. Flashed with the nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE firmware, it turns into a capable BLE sniffer that captures advertisements and follows connections over the air — feeding packets straight into Wireshark.

Good for:

  • Monitoring and capturing BLE traffic between a device and its mobile app.
  • Following a connection to read GATT service and characteristic exchanges.
  • Learning how a target's BLE protocol works before attacking it.

Notes: Flash it with Nordic's nRF Sniffer firmware and use the accompanying Wireshark plugin. It only sniffs one connection at a time, but at this price it is the standard entry point for BLE monitoring.

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