Secret Service Dismantles Network Near UN Linked to Nation-States

The U.S. Secret Service dismantled a sprawling hidden telecom network across the New York tristate area ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, seizing more than 300 SIM servers and over 100,000 SIM cards clustered within 35 miles of U.N. headquarters. Officials said the devices could have enabled anonymous telephonic threats, encrypted communications for criminal or foreign actors, and been weaponized to disable cell towers, jam 911, or launch denial-of-service attacks capable of crippling citywide cellular service. Preliminary forensic analysis linked cellular traffic from the network to nation-state threat actors and to individuals already known to federal law enforcement, prompting the agency’s Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit to act. Secret Service officials shared photos of the seized hardware on X and said the takedown neutralized an imminent threat to senior U.S. officials and critical telecommunications infrastructure. Investigators said they had not publicly uncovered a direct plot to disrupt the U.N. General Assembly but warned the operation highlights growing risks to the invisible infrastructure that keeps modern cities connected.