The US secret services have dismantled a clandestine network in New York with over 100 thousand SIM and 300 servers, capable of blocking communications and spreading millions of anonymous messages. The discovery, which took place on the eve of the UN Assembly, makes a espionage operation fear with possible links to foreign governments and criminal groups.
The US secret services have dismantled a vast illegal network of communication equipment In the New York region, capable of deactivating cellular networks and spreading millions of anonymous messages, precisely in the days when over one hundred world leaders meet for the annual General Assembly of United Nations. The news was released on Tuesday by the Federal Agency, in an investigation that the New York Times He defined “among the most sophisticated ever faced on American soil”.
According to reports, the network included beyond 100,000 SIM cards and about 300 serversable to send up to 30 million text messages per minute. The equipment, installed within a radius of 56 kilometers from the UN headquartersthey could have interfered with emergency systems and, potentially, to intercept encrypted leaders of leaders and delegations. An official of secret services he said that an operation of this reach had never been seen, underlining the risks for safety during what is often called the “Super Bowl of the Spies».
The first analyzes of the data highlighted connections with a foreign nation and with criminal organizations, including members of drug signs already known to the US authorities. “We will continue to work to identify the managers and their intentions, including if they aimed to hit government communications during the visit of the world leaders,” he said Matt McCool, senior agent of the office of New York of the secret services, in a video declaration released by the agency. The investigations started after a series of anonymous telephone threats addressed in the spring to three high American officials – two operations of the White house and a secret service agent. Although the details have not been made public, McCool He spoke of “fraudulent phone calls”, explaining that the illegal network would have had the ability to block entire cellular transmission towers, paralyzing emergency communications.
The photos released by the agency show shelves full of servers with antennas and sim cards, in some cases stacked up to the ceiling. In addition to the equipment, the investigators found 80 grams of cocaine, unregistered firearms, computers and cell phones, reporting a possible intersection between espionage and organized crime. For Anthony J. Ferranteformer manager of IT security in the White House and today driving the Cyber division of FTI Consultingthe operation “appears sophisticated and expensive and my instinct tells me that it is espionage”, he told the New York Timesunderlining that infrastructures of this type, in addition to deactivating the cellular network, can easily turn into tools to intercept sensitive communications. Also James A. Lewiscomputer security analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis of Washington, he explained that only a small number of countries has technology and resources to orchestrate a similar operation, citing Russia, China And Iran among the main suspects.
To these assessments is added the comment of Pierluigi Paganiniamong the highest experts of cyber security in Italy, which a Panorama.it He says: «The discovery is disconcerting both for the complexity of the network equipment identified and for potential offensive skills. From the first rumors, potential links to an actor Nation State emerge as well as in criminal groups, demonstrating the subtle line that separates these two ecosystems. However, it is plausible that a state actor has set up the network for espionage purposes and that it has also made it available to IT criminals to make the attribution complex. For the same reason, the network may have been created by a criminal group and also used by actors close to foreign governments. However, the complexity of the operation suggests the experts for the first hypothesis ». In addition to the secret services, the Department of New York PoliceThe Department of Justicethe Homeland Security Investigations and the office of the director of‘National Intelligence. McCool He warned that “there is no reason to believe that we will not find other devices of this type in other American cities”. The discovery, a few days after the opening of the UN session, confirms how Vulnerable soil remains in which foreign crime and intelligence remains. As the New York Times“The coincidence with the general assembly, which recalls the leaders of over one hundred nations, shows how high the level of the invisible clash that accompanies every international summit is”.
