Secret Service dismantles telecom threat around UN capable of crippling cell service in NYC

"It can't be understated what this system is capable of doing," said Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's New York field office. "It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? .... You can't text message, you can't use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there, it could be catastrophic to the city.""

"While close to 150 world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service was quietly dismantling a massive hidden telecom network across the New York area - a system investigators say could have crippled cell towers, jammed 911 calls and flooded networks with chaos at the very moment the city was most vulnerable."

"The network was uncovered as part of a broader Secret Service investigation into telecommunications threats targeting senior government officials, according to investigators. Spread across multiple sites, the servers functioned like banks of mock cellphones, able to generate mass calls and texts, overwhelm local networks and mask encrypted communications criminals, officials said."

Close to 150 world leaders prepared to arrive for the U.N. General Assembly while the U.S. Secret Service dismantled a massive hidden telecom network across the New York area. The cache included more than 300 SIM servers and over 100,000 SIM cards clustered within 35 miles of the United Nations. The system could have crippled cell towers, jammed 911 calls, and flooded networks, threatening emergency response and counterterrorism. The servers operated like banks of mock cellphones, capable of generating mass calls and texts, overwhelming local networks, and masking encrypted communications. The network was uncovered during a broader Secret Service investigation targeting telecommunications threats to senior officials. Officials said they haven't uncovered a direct plot to disrupt the U.N. General Assembly.

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