"It could be catastrophic to the city" - US Secret Service takes down massive million-dollar network of SIM cards it says was capable of taking down comms across New York
Date:
Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:02:00 +0000
Description:
US Secret Service dismantles network of 100,000 SIM cards possibly able to disable cell phone towers ahead of UN General Assembly.
FULL STORY
The US Secret Service has uncovered and dismantled a telecommunications
network in New York which may have been used by organized criminals to communicate with foreign state-sponsored actors.
The enormous network was made up of over 300 servers that housed a combined 100,000 SIM cards, and allegedly had the potential to disrupt phone networks across the tristate area and facilitate encrypted communications.
The United Nations General Assembly is currently ongoing in New York, and the Secret Service has suggested the network could have been used to conduct multiple telecommunications-related threats directed towards senior U.S. government officials.
Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit
The 300 co-located servers were all within 35 miles of the United Nations and could have been involved in disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.
An investigation is currently ongoing and is being conducted by the Secret Services new Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit, which is dedicated to disrupting the most significant and imminent threats to our protectees.
While the network included 100,000 active SIM cards being used in encrypted communications, the Secret Service also said that there were many more
waiting to be deployed.
Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Services New York field office said, It cant be understated what this system is capable of doing. It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right?
You cant text message, you cant use your cellphone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with [the UN general assembly], you know, use your imagination there it could be catastrophic to the city.
The Secret Service has been investigating threats against senior US officials from telecommunications networks, which led to the discovery of the SIM cache network.
Multiple US officials have been targeted in impersonation and smishing
attacks in recent months.
The SIM cards will be analyzed for phone calls and text messages, with the network capable of sending upwards of 30 million messages in a single minute, McCool said, stating the network was highly organized and would have cost millions of dollars to construct.
The potential for disruption to our countrys telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated," added Sean Curran, director of the Secret Service.
"The U.S. Secret Services protective mission is all about prevention, and
this investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent
threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled."
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/us-secret-service-takes-down-massive-mi llion-dollar-network-of-sim-cards-it-says-was-capable-of-taking-down-comms-acr oss-new-york
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