New York City:

What we know now after Secret Service shuts down underground server network in NYC

What we know is mostly in the headline: the Secret Service shut down a server network, and it was located in New York.

And from the provided pictures, it looks like a SIM farm:

Some of the main applications of SIM banks are seen in legitimate business activities, such as customer service, call centers, and ethically and legally compliant SMS marketing campaigns. They facilitate effective communication routing and management, providing scalability and cost savings for businesses. SIM banks normally openly conduct business, adhering to rules and maintaining transparency.

Conversely, SIM farms frequently engage in illicit activities, utilizing large quantities of consumer-grade SIM cards to send SMS messages without the recipients’ permission, get around legal restrictions, or commit fraud.

So it might be spammer gear, or it might be a sort of black market cut-rate messaging service:

The use of SIM boxes is generally considered illegal or unauthorized because it can result in revenue loss for telecom operators.

What we don’t know is why the Secret Service, of all agencies, was sicced on it.

They’ve claimed that it was “used to conduct multiple telecommunications-related threats directed towards senior U.S. government officials“… but if that was the case, they would have gotten more done by quietly co-opting the SIM farm and using it to backtrace the people making the threats, not announcing its shutdown to the news media.

Of course, they might just be stupid.

But then they and their media stenographers listed a number of horrible things that might be done with a SIM farm, like:

1. overloading a cellular network
2. more specifically, disrupting comms between emergency services
3. more specifically, disrupting comms between UN pols and personnel – we’re reminded frequently that the SIM farm was “within 35 miles” of UN headquarters
4. DDOSing other devices
5. “facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication” between bad guys

That first story I linked to above tried connecting this SIM farm to the recent Google Cloud and Starlink outages… somehow. And the AP tried namechecking 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing… as examples of cell networks being overloaded, but we were meant to shut our brains off at the mention of terrorism.

OMGUGUYS it was within 35 miles of the UN building! And never mind that a 35-mile radius around NYC clips into two other states, we’re supposed to be thinking of high profile terrorist or espionage targets. Yes, someone also floated the idea of espionage.

Counterterrosism is an FBI gig. So is “cybercrime” in general, and last I knew, the FBI was the lead agency on domestic counterintelligence as well. Sure, the Secret Service’s financial-crime mission has expanded to overlap with cyber, and every damn fool with a federal badge has been invited into some kind of joint terrorism task force over the years…

…but still, what the hell is the Secret Service doing taking the lead on a garden-variety SIM farm case, even if (if) that SIM farm was used to relay a threat to a pol? And why are they trumpeting it to the media like they’ve found the “electronic safe house” of some state-sponsored master hacker terrorist superspy?

I don’t have the answers, but given the amount of bluster, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re really goddamned embarrassing.