Cellphone plot part of a troubling trend
Could have caused chaos in NYC area
By: N'dea Yancey-Bragg
will carless
and Michael Loria
USA Today
..... The discovery of a vast telecommunications network that authorities say was capable of wiping out cellular communications in the nation's largest city is just the latest in a steady series of high-profile plots targeting critical infrastructure.
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With the right amount of resources, bad actors can shut down anything from hospitals to gas pipelines, according to Kevin Butler, director of the Florida Institute for cybersecurity Research.
..... "What we're already seeing is how cyberattacks can be targeting various aspects of critical infrastructure and in very meaningful ways," Butler said.
..... Investigators found more than 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards in the New York City area. The Secret Service said it moved quickly to dismantle the network given its proximity to a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
..... The devices allowed for anonymous, encrypted communication, which enabled criminal organizations to operate undetected, according to Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in New York.
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McCool said the network could have been used to disable cellphone towers, disrupt emergency communications and shut down the city's cellular networks.
..... It's not yet clear who is behind the plot in New York or what their intentions were, but Butler said the level of sophistication indicates the perpetrators are likely a highly organized group, like a foreign government or non-state actor.
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And though attacks against telecom provides are not unusual, this kind of brute force method is almost unheard of, Butler said. Though fraudsters sometimes amass SIM cards to execute scams, Butler said those operations typically involved "a couple thousand at most."
..... I've never heard of somebody putting 100,000 SIM cards together in such a coordinated way," he said.
..... The discovery in New York City comes just months after a high-profile attack on U.S. telecom provides that was part of a massive Chinese hacking and spying campaign. At lease nine telecoms, including Verizon and AT&T, were believed to be targeted by a group of Chinese hackers in a campaign nicknamed "Salt Typhoon."
..... Beefing up security in the wake of
these events has become a high priority for academics, companies and the government, but Butler said the telecommunications network is so complicated it;s difficult to protect.
..... And telecommunications are not the only target. A range of plots have targeted other forms of critical infrastructure around the world in recent years.
* Several of Europe's biggest airports faced disruptions after a ransomware attack affected automated check-in systems provided by Collins Aerospace, the European Union's cybersecurity agency said on September 23. [2025]
* In 2024, hackers hit American water Works Company. Water delivery systems weren't affected but the faultily was force to pause billing for millions of customers.
* Russian hackers crippled the Colonial as pipeline for five days in 2021, casuist shortages at 16,200 gas stations along the East coast
..... Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA Today; Reuters