Silent Threat: Secret Service Dismantles Network Capable of Crippling NYC’s Communications
The U.S. Secret Service announced that it had dismantled a telecommunications network in New York capable of disrupting mobile communications. The equipment was discovered near the United Nations headquarters, where the General Assembly is currently convening with the participation of world leaders.
According to the agency, the network comprised more than 100,000 SIM cards and nearly 300 servers. It enabled the anonymous exchange of encrypted messages, the disabling of mobile towers, and the launching of attacks capable of crippling telecommunications systems. One official stated that the network’s capacity reached 30 million text messages per minute—a scale the agency had never encountered before.
The investigation began in the spring after anonymous calls were placed to three senior officials—one from the Secret Service and two from the White House. The agency described these calls as “false alarms.”
“Given the timing, location, and the threat of severe disruptions to New York’s telecommunications, the agency acted swiftly to shut down the network,” the Secret Service said in its statement.
Matt McCool, head of the Secret Service’s New York field office, noted that analysis of the SIM cards revealed links to at least one foreign state and to individuals already known to law enforcement, including members of cartels. “We will continue to investigate who was behind this network and what objectives they pursued—whether they sought to disrupt government and emergency communications during the visit of world leaders to New York,” he added.
Photos released by the agency showed racks of SIM cards and antennas. According to McCool, the network had the capability to disable towers and effectively collapse mobile networks.
The operation involved the U.S. Department of Justice, the NYPD, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Homeland Security Investigations. McCool emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and warned that “there is no reason to assume such devices could not appear in other cities as well.”
During the raid, agents also uncovered banned substances, illegal weapons, computers, and mobile phones alongside the SIM servers.
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