The Secret Service uncovered a large illegal electronic device network capable of disrupting cell towers and blocking 911 calls across New York City.
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This revelation emerged as world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the UN General Assembly, officials said Tuesday. Investigators found over 300 SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards at several locations within 35 miles of the United Nations, according to the New York Post.
“The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran explained, per the Post.
The devices could have launched many telecommunications attacks, such as sending 30 million texts per minute. Officials warned this could have had “catastrophic” results for the city.
“It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? …. You can’t text message, you can’t use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there. It could be catastrophic to the city,” Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, told the Post.
“Given the timing, location, and proximity, and potential for significant disruptions to the New York telecoms system, we moved quickly to disrupt this network,” McCool added.
Meanwhile, the exact timing of the hidden devices’ seizure remains unclear.
Secret Service Warns the Network Might Have Cause Widespread Disruption Like Outages During 911
The Secret Service uncovered the hidden network during an investigation that began in the spring. This probe followed telecommunications threats against senior US government officials, investigators reported.
Agents raided the locations, finding rows of servers and shelves of SIM cards. Over 100,000 cards were activated, with many more ready for use, McCool explained.
McCool also cautioned that the network could have caused widespread disruption, similar to cellular outages after 9/11. Officials confirmed no direct plot against the UN General Assembly was found. They also stressed that there is no current threat to New York City.
The Secret Service is still trying to identify those responsible. They suspect individuals from certain countries used the system to send encrypted messages to organized crime groups, cartels, and terrorist organizations.
Forensic analysis is still in its early stages, McCool confirmed.
“We need to do forensics on 100,000 cell phones, essentially all the phone calls, all the text messages, anything to do with communications, see where those numbers end up,” he explained.