The United States Secret Service says it has discovered and disrupted “a large network” of so-called SIM farms in the New York tri-state area, as world leaders gather for discussions at the United Nations.
SIM farms use collections of devices known as SIM boxes or SIM banks, which can hold numerous SIM cards from different telecommunications providers.
They can sometimes be used legitimately to send mass messages or calls over the internet, but are often used by cybercriminals to send out phishing messages and scam calls — as well as to overwhelm local networks.
US law enforcement agencies had discovered more than 300 SIM boxes and around 100,000 SIM cards in their investigation — likely capable of sending up to 30 million text messages a minute — the US Secret Service announced on Tuesday.
Special Agent Matt McCool said the devices “had the potential to disable cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City”.
The hardware was allegedly found within a 56 kilometre radius of the UN headquarters in New York City, where the UN General Assembly is meeting this week — including Australian representatives Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“Given the timing, location and potential for significant disruption to New York telecommunications posed by these devices, the agency moved quickly to disrupt this network,” the Secret Service said.
US authorities say around 100,000 individual SIM cards have been seized as part of the investigation. Image: US Secret Service / Supplied
Devices already used to target ‘senior US government officials’
The devices obtained by US law enforcement had already been used “to conduct multiple telecommunications-related threats directed towards senior US government officials”, the Secret Service alleged.
The SIM boxes could have also been used to carry out “a wide range” of other attacks including “enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises”, the agency said.
McCool said investigations escalated after senior US officials faced “telecommunications-related imminent threats” earlier this year, including fraudulent phone calls.
“We will continue towards working towards identifying those responsible, and their intent — including whether their plan was to disrupt the UN General Assembly and communications of government and emergency personnel during the official visit of world leaders in and around New York City,” he said.
SIM farms were allegedly found at locations within a 56 kilometre radius of UN headquarters in New York City. Image: US Secret Service / Supplied
Threat allegedly posed by ‘nation-state threat actors’
While investigations were ongoing, early analysis had found “nation-state threat actors” and other individuals already known to US law enforcement had used the SIM farm networks to communicate, the US Secret Service said.
Officials have not disclosed which nation states or criminal networks they believed may have been responsible for the networks.
US Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the foiled SIM farms also posed an immense threat to North America’s broader telecommunications system.
“The US Secret Service’s protective mission is all about prevention, and this investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down, and dismantled,” he said.
Australian police arrested at least six people during a national crackdown on SIM box fraud earlier this year, around six months after a Sydney man was charged with allegedly using the technology to send more than 17 million scam messages attempting to convince people to share credit card details.
