Login

**kyonides** · 02-20-2026, 09:19 AM

NANCY GUTHRIE CASE

Marine veteran created high-tech Bluetooth signal sniffer to find Nancy Guthrie — and now he’s creating an app

Quote:The “ethical hacker” who created the Bluetooth “signal sniffer” being used to try to track Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker said he created the high-tech tool specifically for the search for the missing matriarch — and that he is now creating an app.

David Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec, said the sniffer, which has been attached to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department helicopter hovering over Tucson, Arizona, has a range of up to 800 feet.

The renowned “ethical hacker” and Marine veteran who conducted cyber missions for the National Security Agency told The Post that he knew he had an opportunity to help after it was revealed that the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie had a pacemaker.

“When this whole Nancy Guthrie case came out, law enforcement said that her pacemaker had disconnected from her phone, which would indicate that she’s using one of the newer brand pacemakers that have Bluetooth connectivity,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy had previously worked with pacemaker companies to test their ability to withstand hacks, ensuring that no one can “drain the battery or cause it to short circuit,” he explained.

“From there, I wrote a software tool that specifically looks for Bluetooth low-energy devices,” the tech whiz continued.

“Bluetooth has a very low transmit power. But with signal amplifiers, high-gain antennas, and what are called software-defined radios, we can really increase the range that we can see that information can transmit to it.”

Through his testing, Kennedy was able to hook a Bluetooth sniffer to a drone and scan for devices up to 800 feet away.

Kennedy then contacted law enforcement and arranged for one of his colleagues to travel to Pima County, Arizona, to aid in the search for the 84-year-old.
Bluetooth communicates at around 2.4 gigahertz, the same as other wireless devices.

In a perfect world, with no obstructions and a clear line of sight, Kennedy believes the sniffer could detect a Bluetooth-enabled pacemaker up to 5,000 feet away.

But every obstacle — such as the pacemaker being inside Nancy, along with any possible walls behind which she is being held — shortens the effectiveness of the sniffer, Kennedy said.

“A Bluetooth low-energy device only has about what’s called a 10-milliwatt transmit power, which is about a 30- to 35-foot radius. Now you might be wondering, how do you get 800 feet from that? Well, we’re not trying to communicate in a two-way relationship with that device,” he explained.

Nancy Guthrie Update: Google Responds to Search Claims Before Disappearance

Quote:A Google spokesperson told Newsweek that a spike in a Google Trends chart is not “definitive evidence” of a search—after Fox News claimed that Google Trends data appears to show searches for Nancy Guthrie’s address before her disappearance.

Fox News claimed that Google Trends data appeared to show searches for Guthrie’s address between June 21 and 28, 2025, and again on January 11 of this year.

Newsweek was unable to verify this Google Trends data.

"Google Trends is designed for understanding trends in large datasets. For topics with low or no searches, a Google Trends chart will often mix in random noise to protect people’s privacy. That means that a Google Trends chart showing a spike for an uncommon topic is not definitive evidence that a search actually happened," a Google spokesperson told Newsweek.
...
What To Know

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends is a tool that shows relative search interest in a topic over a given time period, but it does not show the total number of searches or the total number of people who have searched, according to a Google spokesperson.

For very uncommon searches, Trends data may appear to show some search interest even if there were no actual searches due to statistical noise used as a privacy measure, the spokesperson said. Apparent spikes for low-interest search terms should not be viewed as reflecting actual search activity at an exact time or location by Google users, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Google has not taken any manual action to adjust Trends data in this instance, and random statistical noise can cause differences in what people see for low-volume search terms.

STARLINK

Elon Musk’s Starlink crackdown cripples attacks on Ukraine as Russian casualty rates soar

Quote:WASHINGTON — A move by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to shut down Russia’s illegal use of Starlink satellite internet has dealt Moscow a fresh battlefield setback as its casualty rates soar.

On Feb. 1, SpaceX blocked unauthorized Starlink terminals in Ukraine after discovering them mounted on Russian weapons systems and drones obtained on the black market — a violation of Starlink’s terms of service, which ban the use of terminals in offensive operations.

Now, only verified Ukrainian devices are allowed to connect to Starlink — effectively locking Russian users out.

“For three to four days after the shutdown, they really reduced the assault operations,” said Lt. Denis Yaroslavsky, who commands a special reconnaissance unit for the Ukraine Armed Forces.

The disruption comes as Russia suffers its worst death rate since the start of the four-year-old war, US and Ukrainian intelligence officials tell The Post — threatening the Kremlin’s ability to replace those forces sent to slaughter by Vladimir Putin.

“On any given day, depending on your scale of analysis, my sector was already achieving 20:1 [casuality rate] before the shutdown. And we are an elite unit,” a unit commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps who goes by the codename “Jackie” told The Post, referring to inflicting 20 Russian casualties for every one suffered by their side.

“Regular units have no problem going 5:1 or 8:1.”

“With Starlink down, 13:1 [casualty rate] for a regular unit is easy,” he added.

While the rates vary from theater to theater, [text is missing here.]

While Russian-to-Ukrainian casualty ratios vary across the battlefield, the imbalance got as high as 27 Russian losses for every Ukrainian when they fought to regain the key city of Kupiansk in December, according to a Bloomberg report Monday citing an intelligence assessment provided to the British military.

“Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told European counterparts this week that Kyiv was able to inflict more Russian casualties than the Kremlin was able to recruit over the last two months,” Bloomberg reported, citing UK Defense Secretary John Healey.

In all, more than 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed, wounded or vanished since February 2022 — “more losses than any major power in any war since World War II,” according to a late January report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

That’s roughly twice the number of Ukraine’s casualties, which the report estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000.

Any degradation of Russia’s battlefield capabilities could shift leverage in Ukraine’s favor as the US pushes for a negotiated end to the conflict, analysts have said.

The elimination of Starlink has also affected the Russian military’s communication systems and methods, affecting the most basic of tools needed to conduct their war.

“I’m sure the Russians have [alternative options], but it takes time to maximize their implementation and this [would take] at least four to six months,” Yaroslavsky said.

CRYPTOSCAMS

Cryptocurrency use explodes in human trafficking networks, online scams: report

Quote:The number of cryptocurrency payments to suspected human trafficking groups surged 85% in 2025 as digital assets play a growing role in illicit online schemes, according to a new report from analytics firm Chainalysis.

Hundreds of millions of transactions on public blockchains exposed links between cryptocurrency payments and human trafficking networks, child sex abuse operations and online scams, according to the report, which was earlier cited by CNBC.

Most of the alleged criminal crypto activity was traced back to a growing criminal ecosystem in Southeast Asia, though the payments themselves were sent from locations around the world, including North and South America, Europe and Australia, according to Chainalysis.

International escort and prostitution services, scam compounds in Southeast Asia and criminals sharing child sex abuse materials largely relied on crypto payments, the report found.

The shocking report also found that these human trafficking networks are no longer hiding on the “dark web” — but operating in plain view on messaging platforms like Telegram, where they recruit victims and organize crypto payments.

“The key takeaway is that the true financial scale is large, at least hundreds of millions of USD worth of crypto transactions, and the physical harm is orders of magnitude greater than any dollar figure,” Chainalysis intelligence analyst Tom McLouth told CNBC.

However, the transparency of public blockchains has also allowed “unprecedented visibility” into these criminal transactions, according to the report.

Authorities and watchdog organizations have been able to identify criminal networks by looking out for key red flags, like a reliance on stablecoin payments or the use of Chinese-language money laundering groups, the report said.

Chinese-language Telegram channels funneled at least $16.1 billion in illicit funds last year, according to Chainalysis.

The report found a significant amount of crypto transactions above $10,000 for international escort and prostitution services. Some listings advertised multi-day “companionship” services and VIP packages for more than $30,000 in cryptocurrency.

BYTEDANCE & DISNEY

PALANTIR

Palantir moves headquarters to Miami and joins growing tech exodus to Florida

Quote:Palantir announced Tuesday it has moved its headquarters from Denver to Miami – joining a slew of tech firms fleeing to South Florida as a growing number of industry leaders deem it the new Silicon Valley.

Tech giants have been increasingly flocking to Florida from business hubs like New York and California in pursuit of lower taxes, warm weather and safer neighborhoods.

“We have moved our headquarters to Miami, Florida,” Palantir wrote in a brief post on X Tuesday morning.

The company did not immediately respond to inquiries about its reason for the move.

Palantir was founded in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2003 and moved to Denver in 2020 as its CEO Alex Karp emerged as a vocal critic of Silicon Valley’s culture.

Former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has long pushed for tech talent to move to Florida, cheered Tuesday’s “watershed moment for Miami.”

“This is the tipping point!” he wrote on X, using numerous exclamation points.

The Post has sought comment from Palantir.

Citadel’s Ken Griffin and real estate magnate Stephen Ross – some of the highest-profile billionaires to move to South Florida during the pandemic – recently launched a $10 million campaign to encourage business leaders to move to the Sunshine State, The Post reported.

“The only place a CEO or founder can scale from 10 employees to 10,000 will be in South Florida,” Ross previously told The Post. “While other cities are still special, they no longer support building business and supporting ambition like you can find here.”

The campaign targets CEOs and investors with national ads and direct outreach, as well as a dedicated concierge program that can help executives relocate operations and navigate state regulations.

Apple has already expanded its presence in South Florida with a new Miami campus, while software company ServiceNow has committed to opening an office in West Palm Beach.

Amazon earlier this year signed a massive office lease in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.

YOUTUBE

APPLE PORN?

West Virginia accuses Apple of allowing iCloud to become ‘greatest platform for distributing child porn’

Quote:West Virginia’s attorney general sued Apple on Thursday, accusing the iPhone maker of allowing its iCloud service to become what the company’s internal communications called the “greatest platform for distributing child porn.”

Attorney General JB McCuskey, a Republican, accused Apple of prioritizing user privacy over child safety. His office called the case the first of its kind by a government agency over the distribution of child sexual abuse material on Apple’s data storage platform.

“These images are a permanent record of a child’s trauma, and that child is revictimized every time the material is shared or viewed,” McCuskey said in the statement. “This conduct is despicable, and Apple’s inaction is inexcusable.”

Apple in a statement said it has implemented features that prevent children from uploading or receiving nude images and was “innovating every day to combat ever-evolving threats and maintain the safest, most trusted platform for kids.”

“All of our industry-leading parental controls and features, like Communication Safety — which automatically intervenes on kids’ devices when nudity is detected in Messages, shared Photos, AirDrop and even live FaceTime calls — are designed with the safety, security, and privacy of our users at their core,” Apple said.

The US has seen a growing national reckoning over how smartphones and social media harm children. So far, the wave of litigation and public pressure has mostly targeted companies like Meta, Snap, and Google’s YouTube, with Apple largely insulated from scrutiny.

End-to-end encryption

West Virginia’s lawsuit focuses on Apple’s move toward end-to-end encryption, putting digital files outside the reach of both Apple and law enforcement officials. The state alleges Apple’s use of such technology has allowed child abuse material to proliferate on its platform.

For decades, technology and privacy advocates have sparred over end-to-end encryption. Advocates call this vital to ensuring privacy and preventing widespread digital eavesdropping. Governments insist it hinders criminal investigations.

Apple has considered scanning images but abandoned the approach after concerns about user privacy and safety, including worries that it could be exploited by governments looking for other material for censorship or arrest, Reuters has reported.

McCuskey’s office cited a text message Apple’s then anti-fraud chief sent in 2020 stating that because of Apple’s priorities, it was “the greatest platform for distributing child porn.”

The lawsuit in Mason County Circuit Court seeks statutory and punitive damages and requests that a judge force Apple to implement safer product designs including effective measures to detect abusive material.

Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and other platform providers check uploaded photos or emailed attachments against a database of identifiers of known child sex abuse material provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other clearinghouses.

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me