A network of devices capable of disabling New York’s cellular towers and causing paralyzing service disruptions was dismantled as an “imminent” threat ahead of President Trump and other world leaders gathering for high-stakes talks at the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.
The head of the agency’s New York field office, Matt McCool, said agents had uncovered upward of 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards at sites concentrated in New York and the tristate area with nefarious capabilities, hidden within 35 miles of Manhattan’s East Side, where dignitaries have descended for the organization’s 80th annual gathering.
“This network had the potential to disable cell-phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City,” McCool said, adding the devices no longer posed a threat.
“We will continue working toward identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the U.N. General Assembly and communications of government and emergency personnel during the official visit of world leaders in and around New York City.”
McCool did not announce any arrests, but said cellular communication between actors working on behalf of foreign governments and people on the radar of federal law enforcement had been detected during an ongoing investigation. He said a tip-off to the feds last spring regarding a string of telecommunications threats against high-level U.S. officials led to the discovery of the network.
ABC reported Tuesday that standard preparations for protecting Trump and others uncovered the sophisticated setup, and that law enforcement believes it’s connected to the Chinese government.
The devices could make untraceable, threatening phone threats, attack cell towers, block access to communication systems, and facilitate encrypted communications between those secretly operating them, the agency said.
“The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement. “This investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled.”
