🚨 Guthrie tech grounded

I hope your Sunday is off to a great start, {{first_name | friend}}. What if I told you that, for nearly 15 years, during the white-knuckle height of the Cold War, the code that could unlock some of America’s nuclear arsenal was even worse than password123? Yep. The most powerful warheads on Earth were guarded with all the security of your high school locker.

🔓 What was this not-so-top-secret code? Was it A) 12345678, B) 00000000, C) PASSWORD or D) GODBLESS?  Spoiler, it’s horrifyingly simple. Stick around, your Cold War jaw-drop moment is coming up.

Every day this February, I pick one subscriber to win $250. It could be you today. Look up top for your winning code in a huge red box. Nothing there? No sweat. There are still 20 more days to go. Now let’s talk tech. Oh, the Web Watercooler section is different because I need to share one big story with you. — Kim

📬 Someone forwarded this to you? Smart friend. Want it in your own inbox instead of waiting on them? Sign up here. It’s free, and I promise not to spam you.

⚡ TL;DR (THE SHORT VERSION)

📖 Read time: 2.75 minutes

Ever wonder what your personal information is worth to criminals? 

Your SSN goes for $1 to $6 on the dark web. Your Netflix login? About $10 to $25. A credit card with a $5,000 limit fetches around $110. And a package with a name, address, SSN, DOB and driver’s license runs $30 to $100. Your entire identity for less than a pair of jeans.

Criminals call these packages fullz, and they’re the hottest item on dark web marketplaces.

Medical records sell for $250 to $1,000 each, up to 80 times more than a credit card. Why? You can cancel a stolen card in five minutes. You can’t cancel your blood type, chronic conditions or health history.

Here’s what keeps me up at night. 

Once someone uses your insurance for a procedure, you’re screwed. You might be denied a procedure because someone beat you to it. Medical identity theft takes an average of nine months to discover, and victims spend 200-plus hours cleaning up the mess.

Cartels figured out cybercrime is more profitable than drugs. Global cybercrime revenue has blown past $10.5 trillion. That’s more than the entire illegal drug trade.

The FBI is tracking 10,000 active identity theft rings in the U.S. Some are based overseas, others in your neighborhood. AI-driven crime rings can impersonate your voice and face in seconds.

The average identity fraud victim lost over $19,000 in 2025. I don’t want that to be you.

I get asked every day: Is identity theft protection actually worth it? The answer is a resounding yes. After a lot of research, I moved my own protection over to NordProtect, and here’s why.*

My data is worth too much to leave it to chance, and NordProtect gives me big bank security at a great price. They’re currently running a huge deal for my listeners and readers. 

✅ Right now, get 72% off. It’s only $3.79/month with this limited time offer. Don’t miss out.

She woke up from a nap with strange red spots covering her legs. Told ChatGPT about her symptoms. It made her rush to the hospital. If not for that, Bethany wouldn’t be alive today. In Hour 2 of my show, she tells us her story about what AI got right and wrong.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

🚨 Sheriff grounded tech spy plane: This has not been widely reported and it’s very upsetting. Sheriff Chris Nanos made a decision for some reason only three days before Nancy Guthrie disappeared. After a disagreement, he reassigned Richard "Hoss" Hossler, the department's 20-year veteran surveillance pilot, to street patrol. Hossler filed a formal grievance warning that this move left Pima County with zero nighttime aerial surveillance capability. Nanos personally denied it.

So when Nancy vanished early Sunday morning, the department's most powerful search tools loaded with the latest tech sat on the tarmac. The department paid $7.5 million for two. Grounded. Useless.

Here's what didn't fly that day.

The sheriff’s department has a Survey 1 that they purchased with the surveillance gear for $3,750,000, per this news report. It’s a fixed-wing Cessna Caravan equipped with a $250,000 WESCAM MX-10 turret.

From 1,500 feet up, it covers a wide 2-mile radius in a single pass using long-wave infrared thermal imaging. Your body temperature is 98.6 degrees. On that camera, you glow bright white against the cold Arizona desert floor, even hours after sunset.

It also sees through total darkness. Through dense brush. Through tree cover. Get this, the plane can stay airborne for 5 to 6 hours without refueling, tracking suspects from high altitude without them ever knowing it's up there.

The daylight camera reads license plates from thousands of feet in the air. The laser illuminator paints targets that are invisible to the naked eye but light up like a spotlight for deputies wearing night-vision goggles on the ground.

The real tech magic? A Troll Microwave downlink streams live video with Augmented Reality overlays. Street names appear on screen. Property lines show up in real-time. GPS coordinates accurate to within 3 feet tell enforcement ground units exactly where to go.

It's not only surveillance. It's a heat-seeking, target-painting, turn-by-turn navigation system built specifically for finding people who don't want to be found.

What it could have done.

In a kidnapping, the first 24 hours decide everything. Survey 1 could've spotted a vehicle hiding under trees. Tracked heat signatures moving through the desert. Followed tire tracks glowing from residual heat in disturbed dirt. Identified anyone trying to move an 84-year-old woman under cover of darkness.

Instead, it sat parked at an airport while the trail went cold. Unbelievable.

Deputies are calling it a "catastrophic mistake." They're not wrong. Sheriff Nanos has admitted to multiple "missteps" in the early hours of this investigation, including releasing Nancy's home as a crime scene before forensics finished their sweep.

Leadership failures have real consequences. The technology was there. The expertise was there. The pilot warned them this would happen. Sadly, Nancy Guthrie is still missing.

Want to see what $3.7 million in tech actually looks like?

There’s not a lot out of videos out there. You can watch the plane’s "heat-seeking" vision over the Pima County Fair here, or catch this short clip on Instagram that shows how clear these cameras are from 1,500 feet up.

It wasn't in the air when it mattered. Damn.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: You don’t have to lift your finger to type. Try swipe-to-type on your phone. Slide your finger from letter to letter to spell a word, and release to finish. iPhones have it on by default. On Android, go to Settings > Keyboard > Swipe to type (or Glide typing). It’s faster than two-thumb typing once you get used to it.

Break YouTube bingeing: Ever start watching a few videos and suddenly it’s midnight? In the YouTube mobile app, open Settings > Time management > Remind me to take a break. You can set reminders every 30 minutes, one hour or a whenever. FYI, you also might find it under Settings > General.

Kids code free: Scratch.mit.edu teaches kids to code by building their own games from MIT. Ages 8 and up, and better than those $200 coding camps that teach the same stuff.

💲 What if I told you AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile don't own the cell towers? They rent them. Same towers Consumer Cellular uses for half the price. Two unlimited lines: $60/month total vs. $140+ at the big guys. You're literally paying extra for the same service. Age 50+? Second month free. Check it out.*

😂 Become a meme: Google Photos has a new AI feature called Me Meme that turns your selfies into custom memes. Open the Google Photos app, scroll to the bottom, tap Create > Me Meme. Pick a template, add a photo and let it generate. But don’t make it too spicy. Going viral is fun until HR wants a Monday meeting.

💥 The panic moment: We’ve all been there. You spill coffee or the screen goes black. Years of photos are gone. Recovery costs a fortune. I use Carbonite to back up my files automatically to the cloud. It’s digital insurance for pennies a day. Get 50% off right now.*

🚶🏼‍♀️ Need something to listen to that won't bore you? My podcast breaks down the week's biggest tech stories in plain English. Perfect for walks, workouts, or pretending to be busy while you avoid doing actual work. Find me on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Score free stuff: Freecycle.org is where people give away stuff they don't want anymore instead of trashing it. I've seen families score leather couches, Little Tikes playsets, even working washers. Your neighborhood's free stuff is one search away.

✈️ Track every plane in the sky: See real-time flights all over the world. Zoom into any airport and watch planes take off and land. Great for killing time before a pickup. Watch flights live.

You buy the same stuff on Amazon every month: Check here to see if your regulars, paper towels, protein powder, whatever, are discounted right now. Stop leaving money on the table. That’s not like you.

💰 Tomorrow I'm giving away another $250. But hold on, check to see if you've already won from earlier this month. If you skipped a newsletter, you might've skipped your winning code. Enter your email here to check now, then get ready for tomorrow's chance.

Everyone’s turning themself into an AI caricature, big head, tiny body, surrounded by stuff from their life. 

Upload a photo to ChatGPT, type Create a caricature of me and my job and boom, instant cartoon you. Look at mine with the tips, microphone, on-air light and cash. If only my accountant agreed.

But how does the AI know all that? Because it learned from things we worked on together. Every conversation is fair game. So if your caricature is a little too accurate, maybe stop telling your chatbot more than you tell your therapist.

🔜 Tomorrow: Six AI prompts that'll make you look like the smartest person in the room. Not the basic stuff. The prompts that actually get you promoted, close deals, and make your boss wonder how you got so productive. Everyone else is learning this. You should too.

💣 The answer: B) 00000000. Yeah. For roughly 15 years, some U.S. Minuteman nuclear missiles reportedly had their security unlock switches set to eight zeros. Not a hint of a capital letter or special character. 

Why? Military brass wanted missile crews to act fast in a crisis, with minimal password roadblocks. The password was even written down in a manual.

🏈 Going to a big game party? Use this. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I am a bit of a psychic. That’s right, I can predict the score before the game even starts. 0-0.

🏆 Your next win is waiting. Go out and claim it. — Kim

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

Love this newsletter? Forward to a friend

Photo credit(s): Gemini, RunStar, ChatGPT

Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.