A security solution for BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE) or equivalent wireless data exchange protocols involves authentication of a peripheral device by a central device using the advertising channel is presented. A method of authenticating a peripheral device in a wireless data exchange has a peripheral device sending an advertising channel Protocol Data Unit (PDU), a central device receiving the advertising channel PDU and the central device sending a scan request scanning PDU to the peripheral device. The advantage of this method of using discovery protocol enables a software based solution for the monitoring device and a hardware with software based solution on the beacon device.