Nearly four months have passed since Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her Tucson home by a masked, gloved man. Despite a $1.2 million reward, the police have yet to name a suspect or reveal a motive.
A retired detective, Lisa J Miller, points to an unusual explanation: sophisticated cybercriminals may be using 'wrench attacks' – a tactic where violence or kidnapping is used instead of hacking to force victims to hand over passwords or money.
Miller believes Nancy Guthrie's case has some hallmarks of a wrench attack, but with a twist. She points to the man caught on a Nest doorbell camera, who appears to be a 'street level thug' but with some sophisticated elements.
The typical mastermind behind such attacks is young, tech-savvy, and operates from overseas, likely from a country with no extradition treaty with the United States.
Miller also believes that at least some of the early ransom demands were genuine, and that the FBI would not have put the Guthrie family through trauma if they did not believe there was something real behind the videos.
