In my previous posts, we’ve journeyed through the process of Bridging the Gap: Bringing Modern Kismet to OpenBSD and had some Fun with RTL-SDR on OpenBSD tracking planes and smart meters. Today, I’m diving deeper into the invisible signals surrounding us by shifting our focus to Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) and Zigbee.

I’ve always been curious about what IoT devices around me are actually saying “behind my back” - fitness trackers, smart lightbulbs, and even toothbrushes are constantly “advertising” their presence. In this post, we will look at how to set up a professional-grade sniffing environment on OpenBSD using both the classic Adafruit Bluefruit Sniffer (nRF51822) and the modern nRF52840 (specifically the nice!nano).