On Friday, authorities reported what appeared to be a coordinated attempt to disrupt cellular phone service in New York City, including areas near the United Nations headquarters. The incident involved thousands of Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM cards) configured across several hundred SIM servers, according to officials familiar with the investigation.
This isn’t some minor glitch messing with Sam’s plans to text Joe about grabbing a beer. This is serious — a coordinated attack with the potential to cripple emergency services, law enforcement communications, business networks, and even navigation systems. And it’s not random hackers behind it. Early signs point to a nation-state actor, and all indications suggest the culprit is China.
If that’s true, this isn’t just cyber mischief — it’s an act of aggression, plain and simple.
Disrupting even a localized cellular network, such as in the New York metropolitan area, could have wide-ranging effects on personal communications, media operations, business activity, emergency response systems, and government services.
Authorities say it remains unclear how extensive the damage from the attempted disruption might be or how long its effects could last. While the SIM farms involved do not appear to have the capability to physically damage cellular infrastructure, officials warn that such an attack could still have significant consequences.
The incident occurred near the United Nations headquarters during the recent General Assembly session, according to the U.S. Secret Service. Now, things are much worse than initial findings indicate, per journalist Ryan Saavedra:
Authorities found another SIM network communist China is operating to disrupt critical infrastructure & enable criminal networks
HSI agents found 200,000 SIM cards in NJ, 2X the 100,000 found in NY
They could send 30 million anonymous texts every minute & shut down cell service.
Note that ABC News is now reporting that this is a “China-linked plot that could have crippled every cell tower in the nation’s largest city, jammed 911 calls, and unleashed chaos on communications networks.” This could have disrupted communications over much of the New York metropolitan area. Maybe even farther:
Secret Service personnel, along with officers from multiple agencies, seized hundreds of servers and over 100,000 cellphone SIM cards from around New York. Enough equipment to send 30 million anonymous texts every minute, which would collapse the telecommunications system.
They found empty apartments with servers and server walls capable of making millions of phone calls in and around New York City,” said Donald Mihalek, an ABC News Contributor who was formerly with the Secret Service.
But this week, that number expanded. Law enforcement sources told ABC News that agents from Homeland Security Investigations found an additional 200,000 SIM cards in New Jersey.
These devices allowed anonymous encrypted communications between potential threat and criminal enterprises,” said McCool.
The U.S. Secret Service is still working to figure out a motive and whether or not there was a specific target. It’s also still not clear if the equipment was supposed to be triggered during the United Nations General Assembly, which took place in New York during the last full week of September.
So far, no arrests have been made but McCool did mention that forensic examination is underway. He also indicated there was cellular communication between foreign actors and individuals known to law enforcement.
If China is ultimately confirmed to be involved, officials say the motive would likely center on disrupting communications and the flow of information among private citizens, businesses, and government agencies across one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
The incident has also raised broader concerns among investigators and cybersecurity experts: Are there more of these China-seeded SIM farms located around the country? And what is President Trump prepared to do?