UNGA Big Security Breach Explained: What Is A SIM Farm And How Does It Work?

Just ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, the US Secret Service crippled a network of 100,000-plus SIM cards that had the potential to crack the whole telecommunications network of New York. The agency said, "In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to carry out a wide range of telecommunications attacks." The attacks that could have been triggered with the network could have been denial of service attacks, falicitating anonymous and encrypted communications, and disabling cell towers. The confiscated devices, dubbed SIM servers, were linked to a broader network that could have been operated by 'nation state' actors. The US Secret Service also shared the photograph on X showing multiple SIM cards integrated

into complex telecommunication hardware.

Who Worked On The Threat?

The operation was spearheaded by the freshly formed Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit of the US Secret Service. The investigation related to the case is in process, and the organization has not revealed the name of the countries that could have been involved in the same.

What Is A SIM Farm And How Does It Work?

SIM farms, in layman's terms, are devices that can hold multiple SIM cards from different mobile operators at one. The device can be used to exploit Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to send and receive multiple messages and calls at the same time. The main motive behind building SIM farms was to provide low-cost international calling. However, that quickly became a mode to trigger large-scale phishing attacks and scam calls.

Also Read: 'World Leaders Got Stand-Up Comedy Instead of Strategy': Trump’s UN Speech Becomes Internet GoldThese devices are a big enough threat to overwhelm and crash cellular networks by initiating millions of messages and calls in just a matter of minutes. In the case of the UNGA, the SIM farms could have been used to send encrypted messages to cartels and terrorist organizations. Anthony J. Ferrante, global head of the cybersecurity practice at FTI, said that the nature of SIM farms shown in the photos suggests that they could have been used to clone devices as well.