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Secret Service thwarts massive telecom threat near UN General Assembly
The Secret Service thwarted a massive telecom threat near the United Nations that could have disrupted New York City’s communications.
Updated: 2:39 PM PDT Sep 23, 2025
The Secret Service stopped a massive telecom threat near the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, just as world leaders gathered for meetings.Agents described the threat as one of the most sweeping communications threats ever found on U.S. soil, involving a hidden network capable of knocking out cell service across the city. Investigators discovered more than 300 SIM servers containing over 100,000 SIM cards within 35 miles of the U.N. headquarters. These servers had the potential to send out millions of fake calls and messages, which could cripple cell towers, jam 911 calls, and flood networks with chaos. An agent compared the potential impact to the blackouts following 9/11 and the Boston Marathon, noting that this system could trigger such a shutdown on demand.Experts warn that the threat extends beyond phones, as banking, emergency services, and even the power grid rely on telecom networks. Matt Pearl from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “A lot of this traffic goes over telecom networks, and in some cases, specifically, wireless networks. And so just literally everything in modern life could be hampered or taken down by this.”The investigation is ongoing, with the Secret Service indicating that the operation was highly organized, costing millions, and early signs suggest foreign actors may be involved. Experts say building such a system is not particularly difficult, with the main challenge being financial rather than technical expertise. They are also hard to detect, raising concerns that similar networks could exist in other cities.
The Secret Service stopped a massive telecom threat near the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, just as world leaders gathered for meetings.
Agents described the threat as one of the most sweeping communications threats ever found on U.S. soil, involving a hidden network capable of knocking out cell service across the city. Investigators discovered more than 300 SIM servers containing over 100,000 SIM cards within 35 miles of the U.N. headquarters.
These servers had the potential to send out millions of fake calls and messages, which could cripple cell towers, jam 911 calls, and flood networks with chaos. An agent compared the potential impact to the blackouts following 9/11 and the Boston Marathon, noting that this system could trigger such a shutdown on demand.
Experts warn that the threat extends beyond phones, as banking, emergency services, and even the power grid rely on telecom networks.
Matt Pearl from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “A lot of this traffic goes over telecom networks, and in some cases, specifically, wireless networks. And so just literally everything in modern life could be hampered or taken down by this.”
The investigation is ongoing, with the Secret Service indicating that the operation was highly organized, costing millions, and early signs suggest foreign actors may be involved.
Experts say building such a system is not particularly difficult, with the main challenge being financial rather than technical expertise. They are also hard to detect, raising concerns that similar networks could exist in other cities.
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