As New York city gears up to welcome foreign dignitaries from the across the world for the United Nation General Assembly, US secret service along with NYPD busted a network of devices in the tri-state area capable of crippling telecom systems and carrying out anonymous telephonic attacks.The federal agency said that its agents recovered more than 300 SIM card servers and 100,000 SIM cards used to conduct multiple telecommunications-related threats directed towards senior US government officials.“In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks. This includes disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises,” the statement read.The agency further said that the devices were concentrated within 35 miles of United Nations General Assembly.“These devices were concentrated within 35 miles of the global meeting of the United Nations General Assembly now underway in New York City. Given the timing, location and potential for significant disruption to New York telecommunications posed by these devices, the agency moved quickly to disrupt this network,” it added.“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 US 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.”According to news agency Bloomberg, it is unclear that that the network was linked to earlier incidents this year in which unknown people impersonated White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.Earlier, a State Department cable reported that an unidentified individual left voice and text messages for at least five people, including “three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a US Congress member,” after setting up a Signal account under Rubio’s name in mid-June.
