President Emmanuel Macron of France delivers remarks before the start of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sept 22, 2025. The Secret Service found and seized an illicit network of sophisticated equipment in the New York region that was capable of shutting down the cellular network as foreign leaders prepared to gather nearby for the annual U.N. General Assembly, the agency announced. — Dave Sanders/The New York Times
WASHINGTON: The US Secret Service found and seized an illicit network of sophisticated equipment in the New York City region that was capable of shutting down the cellular network as foreign leaders prepared to gather nearby for the annual UN General Assembly, the agency announced on Sept 23.
Officials said the anonymous communications network, which included more than 100,000 SIM cards and 300 servers, could interfere with emergency response services and could be used to conduct encrypted communication. One official said the network was capable of sending 30 million text messages per minute, anonymously. The official said the agency had never before seen such an extensive operation.
