The U.S. Secret Service has successfully dismantled a massive illicit telecommunications network in the New York Tri-State area, officials announced Tuesday, preventing what could have been a severe disruption to cell service and emergency communications.
The timing of the operation was particularly critical, as it occurred just ahead of President Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Investigators uncovered more than 300 SIM servers and roughly 100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites, according to Special Agent Matt McCool, who leads the Secret Service’s New York Field Office.
These devices were capable of enabling anonymous, encrypted communications between potential threat actors and criminal organizations, as well as launching attacks that could disable cell towers or block 911 calls.
McCool emphasized that the scale and concentration of the network posed an unprecedented risk to regional telecommunications infrastructure.
The investigation began months ago, following multiple telecommunications-related threats directed at senior U.S. government officials earlier this year.
Federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, collaborated with state and local authorities, notably the NYPD, to trace the origin and scope of the network.
Forensic analysis of the recovered