The US Secret Service has taken down a network of electronic gadgets near the UN headquarters in New York in anticipation of a speech by the President of the United States.
The agency disclosed that it had uncovered an immediate danger to Donald Trump as international leaders convened in New York for the UN General Assembly. The network comprised SIM cards and servers that had the potential to disrupt the telephone network, impeding 911 calls.
The Secret Service, tasked with safeguarding Trump and other high-ranking officials, unearthed approximately 300 SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards spread across various sites in the New York tristate area.
This extensive network had the capability to disable mobile networks and safeguard communication among adversaries, as stated by the agency’s director, Sean Curran. The director emphasized the significant threat to the country’s telecommunications posed by this device network.
Officials cautioned that these devices could execute various telecommunications attacks, such as inundating networks with up to 30 million text messages per minute, which could have had disastrous repercussions for the city, authorities noted.
Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, informed the press that the network could disrupt cell towers, rendering communication impossible. He also mentioned the potential catastrophic consequences if such an event coincided with the UN General Assembly.
Mr. McCool revealed that the hidden network was uncovered during an extensive Secret Service investigation initiated in the spring following telecommunications threats against senior US government officials. During the raids, agents discovered numerous servers and shelves filled with SIM cards, both activated and awaiting deployment.
Forensic analysis on the devices is still in its preliminary stages, according to Mr. McCool, who highlighted the need to examine the vast number of cell phones for any relevant communications data.
While there were no specific threats reported against the General Assembly, the Secret Service acted swiftly to dismantle the network since the devices were situated within a 35-mile radius of the global summit.