U.S. says dismantles doable telecom community menace to U.N. summit

The U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday (September 23, 2025) stated it had dismantled a community of greater than 1,00,000 SIM playing cards that would have crashed New York’s telecommunications community forward of the U.N. General Assembly, linking the menace to “nation-state” actors.

“In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks,” the company stated in an announcement.

“This includes disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.”

The U.N.’s high-level normal debate kicks off in New York on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump because of tackle the summit on its first day.

The U.S. Secret Service stated the gadgets it seized had been situated inside a 35-mile (56-kilometer) radius of the U.N. General Assembly.

“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 assertion stated.

It stated that whereas forensic examination of the gadgets and a broader investigation was ongoing, “early analysis indicates cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement.”

Images shared by the company confirmed scores of SIM playing cards linked to telecommunications tools.