Secret Service thwarts telecom plot in New York ahead of UN meeting
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The news: The US Secret Service dismantled a network of devices in New York on Tuesday that it said was used to threaten senior US government officials ahead of the UN General Assembly.
The numbers: Federal agents discovered more than 300 SIM card servers and 100,000 SIM cards at a number of locations within a 35-mile radius of New York City, according to a statement.
The context: The statement published by the US Secret Service said that agents moved quickly as any attack could have severely disrupted the major city as world leaders began gathering for the UN meeting.
In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, the Secret Service explained that the devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks, such as disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.
While forensic examination of these devices is ongoing, the Secret Service said that early analysis indicates cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement.
The Secret Service didn’t identify the officials who were threatened, the nature of the threat or the nations that may have been involved, noting sensitivities around this week’s UN meetings.
What they said: “The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” said US Secret Service Director Sean Curran. “The U.S. Secret Service’s 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.”
The source: US Secret Service
