The U.S. Secret Service dismantled a network of devices in New York city that posed a significant telecom threat. This equipment could have potentially disabled cellphone towers facilitating anonymous communications for criminal activities. This operation was particularly urgent due to the ongoing United Nations General Assembly meeting with world leaders.
Equipment at Various Sites Across Tri-State Area
Equipment seized in the investigation included 300 SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites. Initial findings indicate that nation state actors may have been involved. The equipment is thought to have been employed for various telecommunications threats aimed at high-ranking U.S. officials. Forensic investigations are now being conducted on the active cell phones.
A cellular network disruption generated from this site could have had serious ramifications as it was within 35 miles of the United Nations building. This assemblage of equipment had the capability to send up to 30 million text messages per minute. This could have disabled cell phone towers, facilitated encrypted communications between threat actors, and enabled denial of service attacks. US Secret Service Director Sean Curran stated that bad actors that threaten the United States will be investigated and tracked down.
Action Undertaken by Multiple Federal Law Enforcement Agencies
This federal law enforcement action was taken by the U.S. Secret Service’s Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit. Technical advice and assistance was provided by the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the New York Police Department, and the Director of National Intelligence. Secret Service special agent in charge Matt McCool stated that conducting the forensics on the 100,000 cell phones will take considerable effort and time. McCool also stated that it would be unwise to assume that the New York telecom threat did not involve active networks in other cities in the United States.
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