{"id":249981,"date":"2025-09-23T21:59:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/249981\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T21:59:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:59:32","slug":"secret-service-thwarts-tech-threat-to-un-general-assembly-nyc-cell-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/249981\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Service thwarts tech threat to UN General Assembly, NYC cell network"},"content":{"rendered":"

A network of devices capable of disabling New York\u2019s cellular towers and causing paralyzing service disruptions was dismantled as an \u201cimminent\u201d threat ahead of President Trump and other world leaders gathering for high-stakes talks at the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service<\/a> said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The head of the agency\u2019s New York field office, Matt McCool<\/a>, said agents had uncovered upward of 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards at sites concentrated in New York and the tristate area with nefarious capabilities, hidden within 35 miles of Manhattan\u2019s East Side, where dignitaries have descended for the U.N.\u2019s 80th annual gathering.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis photo provided by the U.S. Secret Service, in New York, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, shows servers on desks at a location where they were seized by the agency. (U.S. Secret Service via AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis network had the potential to disable cell-phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City,\u201d McCool said, adding the devices no longer posed a threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue working toward identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the U.N. General Assembly<\/a> and communications of government and emergency personnel during the official visit of world leaders in and around New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis photo provided by the U.S. Secret Service, in New York, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, shows signal equipment at a location where they were seized by the agency. (U.S. Secret Service via AP)<\/p>\n

McCool did not announce any arrests, but said cellular communication between actors working on behalf of foreign governments and people on the radar of federal law enforcement had been detected during an ongoing investigation. He said a tip-off to the feds last spring regarding a string of telecommunications threats against high-level U.S. officials led to the discovery of the network.<\/p>\n

ABC reported Tuesday<\/a> that standard preparations for protecting Trump and others uncovered the sophisticated setup, and that law enforcement believes it\u2019s connected to the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis photo provided by the U.S. Secret Service, in New York, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, shows SIM card packaging that was seized by the agency. (U.S. Secret Service via AP)<\/p>\n

The devices could make threats via untraceable phone calls, attack cell towers, block access to communication systems, and facilitate encrypted communications between those secretly operating them, the agency said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential for disruption to our country\u2019s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,\u201d Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A network of devices capable of disabling New York\u2019s cellular towers and causing paralyzing service disruptions was dismantled…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5295,405,403,5296,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-249981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115255861043295099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}