The US Secret Service has dismantled a vast hidden telecom network across the New York area that could have crippled cell towers, jammed 911 calls and flooded networks with chaos ahead of the UN general assembly. The cache, comprising over 300 SIM servers packed with more than 100,000 SIM cards and clustered within 35 miles of the United Nations, represents one of the most sweeping communications threats uncovered on US soil.
Investigators warn the system could have blacked out cellular service in a city that relies on it for daily life, emergency response and counter-terrorism. The network was uncovered as part of a broader Secret Service investigation into telecommunications threats targeting senior government officials, according to investigators. Spread across multiple sites, the servers functioned like banks of mock cellphones, able to generate mass calls and texts, overwhelm local networks and mask encrypted communications.
Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, said: “It can’t be understated what this system is capable of doing. It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate … You can’t text message, you can’t use your cellphone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with [the UN general assembly] … it could be catastrophic to the city.”
Officials said they have not uncovered a direct plot to disrupt the UN general assembly and note there are no known credible threats to New York City. Forensic analysis is still in its early stages, but agents believe nation-state actors used the system to send encrypted messages to organised crime groups, cartels and terrorist organisations. The operation had the capability of sending up to 30 million text messages a minute, McCool said.
When agents entered the sites, they found rows of servers and shelves stacked with SIM cards. More than 100,000 were already active, but there were also large numbers waiting to be deployed, evidence that operators were preparing to double or even triple the network’s capacity. McCool described it as a well-funded, highly organised enterprise costing millions of dollars in hardware and SIM cards alone.
