Secret Service Busts Covert Telecom Network Capable of Crippling NYC

The U.S. Secret Service said it has dismantled a sprawling telecommunications threat network across the New York tristate area, describing it as an “imminent threat” to senior government officials and the agency’s protective operations.

According to the newsroom statement, the network consisted of electronic devices used to conduct telecommunications-related threats and could disable cell phone towers, enable denial of service attacks, and facilitate anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.

Investigators uncovered more than 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards spread across multiple sites, with forensic analysis already indicating cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals known to federal law enforcement. The dismantling took place amid heightened security as the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York City, with devices concentrated within 35 miles of the gathering.

The operation involved a broad coalition including the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the NYPD, among others.