The US Secret Service has dismantled a large network of more than 300 SIM servers in the New York tri-state area, capable of disabling cell towers and disrupting emergency services, UNN reports, citing CNN.
Details
The devices, which included 100,000 SIM cards in various locations, were within a 35-mile (56 km) radius of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, the Secret Service said.
The investigation was launched after numerous telecommunications threats against public officials, including swatting incidents and bomb threats, the publication writes.
"Given the time, location, and potential danger of serious disruptions to New York's telecommunications system that these devices could have caused, the agency promptly took action to deactivate this network," the US law enforcement agency said in a statement.
The service added that the servers could send anonymous phone threats and disable cell towers. According to Matt McCaul, a special agent with the US Secret Service who heads the New York office, this system could "effectively paralyze the network in New York."
The hidden electronic labyrinth was so powerful that it could send an encrypted and anonymous message to every person in the United States within 12 minutes, McCaul said.
The US Secret Service did not specify who was behind the network, but said that "preliminary analysis indicates cellular connectivity between state-level threat sources and individuals known to federal law enforcement."
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