Secret Service unearths sweeping telecom threat amid UN General Assembly

The Secret Service dismantled a telecommunications threat capable of virtually shutting down the cellular network in New York City, the federal agency announced on Tuesday. Officials discovered infrastructure to launch wide-ranging telecommunication attacks, including disabling cell towers and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communications between criminal enterprises.

Agents began investigating the network this spring after receiving multiple telecommunication threats and fraudulent calls towards senior U.S officials, according to Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the agency’s New York field office.

Investigators uncovered over 300 co-located SIM servers, powering about 100,000 SIM cards spread across multiple sites in the New York tristate area. By directing the SIM cards, the servers could enable bad actors to carry out swatting calls, where a caller falsely reports a high-stakes emergency at a residence, prompting a heavy police turnout against unsuspecting residents. The SIM servers could also be weaponized by jamming 911 operators with a flood of fraudulent calls in a moment of emergency. They could encrypt communications, shut down cell towers, and allow criminal organizations to operate undetected, McCool said.

The devices have been recovered, and there is no longer any threat, he added. A forensic examination of data from the 100,000 SIM cards, the equivalent of 100,000 cellphones, is now underway, McCool explained.

What was the goal? It's unclear when or how bad actors planned to use the network. The Secret Service noted that devices were concentrated within 35 miles of the UN Headquarters in New York, where the group’s two-week General Assembly kicked off on Tuesday. Agents are still investigating whether the group planned to disrupt the government and emergency communications while world leaders convened at the summit, McCool said. Early analysis showed cellular communications between foreign actors and individuals identified by police, but no arrests have been made yet, he added. The investigation is sensitive and complex, and investigators can’t share any more details at this time, McCool said.