"The gear was identified as part of a Secret Service investigation into "anonymous telephonic threats" made against several high-ranking US government officials, but the setup seems designed for something larger than just making a few threats. The Secret Service believes that the system could have been capable of activities like "disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.""
"Analysis of data from so many devices will take time, but preliminary investigation already suggests that "nation-state threat actors" were involved; that is, this is probably some country's spy hardware. With the UN General Assembly taking place this week in New York, it is possible that the system was designed to spy on or disrupt delegates, but the gear was found in various places up to 35 miles from the UN."
US Secret Service located and seized telecom devices including more than 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards at multiple locations in the New York City area. Photos show stacked SIM boxes with antennas and abundant SIM packaging, indicating deliberate deployment. The system could have disabled cell towers, enabled denial-of-service attacks, and supported anonymous, encrypted communications. Preliminary analysis points to nation-state threat actors. Gear was recovered from several sites, including abandoned apartment buildings up to 35 miles from the UN, with potential links to the UN General Assembly. Equipment has been taken offline; no arrests made yet.
Read at Ars Technica
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