The equipment seizure was announced the week that World Leaders address the United Nations.
The U.S. Secret Service, investigating threats to three people, including one person with « direct access » to President Donald Trump, discovered a plot to take down the New York City telecommunications system. The agencies involved are being tight-lipped about the incident because a foreign government was said to be involved. The news broke on Tuesday morning as the United Nations (UN) General Assembly kicks off its General Debate with World Leaders prepared to give speeches.
While the Secret Service wasn’t sure that the attack on New York City’s telecom system was connected in any way with the UN meetings, the Secret Service felt that it should not take any chances, especially in light of the political climate in the U.S. at the moment. As a result, it is actively investigating other locations to see how widespread the plot is.
The Secret Service and the New York Police Department (NYPD) said that last month they seized 100,000 cellphone SIM cards and hundreds of servers in the New York City area. Authorities are still trying to determine what all of that equipment was supposed to do and if there was a specific target. One report said that there was enough equipment discovered to send 30 million anonymous texts per minute, enough to paralyze the Big Apple’s telecom system.
