@kevinrns I am sorry to see that you are confused.

The point is: This is not what the #USSS makes it out to be. Yet, many publications have, uncritically, copied the verbiage of the USSS.

When someone cryies "WOLF!" and you point out that it is really a cat, the exact cat breed is of lesser importance.

@kevinrns Good question. Maybe the #USSS only found 10%!

Same result. Manhattan alone has 4 mio people on a normal day, and probably more M2M-SIMs on top. An extra million "nefarious" SIMs means ~+10% for the networks.

Also, it makes no sense to build such a complex "attack" system. He who wants to disrupt mobile networks would use cheap jammers from multiple locations (remember it's 3D).

If they want to wreak sophisticated chaos, they would deploy fake cell sites. Not #SIM farms.

6/6
...so theoretically, it should be easy to block all #911 calls coming from that #telecom provider if they suddenly feed 100k 911 calls at once. That would affect that provider's legit customers, but not the overall network, and 911 would continue to work for everyone else.

The confiscated #SIM farms were surely used for an untoward purpose like spam, fraud, difficult to trace nefarious calls and maybe drug deals. So yeah, shut them down.

The real success for the #USSS is their #PR show.

5/n
Maybe. That depends on the routing setup and mitigation efforts the service provider, the mobile network, any intermediary provider, and the #911 call centre itself have.

I don't know how well the various 911 callcentres in the #Tristate area around #Manhattan are prepared for Denial of Service attacks. But the overall #telecom infrastructure wouldn't be affected.

It seems that many (all?) of the #SIM cards confiscated by the #USSS were from the same company. So it should be easy...

4/n
In high-rise environments like #Manhattan, mobile #telecom networks are designed in 3D.

If you have a few thousand SIM cards on, say, the 20th floor, you can take out the local cell, probably affect the 19th and 21st floor as well, and maybe the offices on a similar level across the street. But down on the sidewalk, nobody would take note.

But you sure can't attack the mobile networks inside the UN from a few blocks over.

Could someone block #911 by fielding 100k calls at once?

#USSS

3/n
Yes, but no one would notice. Most of these cells are tiny, covering a very small area, which is also covered by several additional cells. Such mobile network cells go offline all the time, to save power, for maintenance, to improve reception in other areas, due to equipment failure, etc. Users don't notice.

Now in a place like #Manhattan, mobile network cell design is a different beast. Due to high-rise buildings, #telecom networks can't be designed in 2D.
#USSS

2/n
Sure, in a village such as Oberzögersdorf, you can bring down one of the networks with a DOS-attack if you have a couple thousand SIM cards.

But such bucolic areas have few, large mobile #network cells, planned in 2D.

In densely populated areas, that doesn't fly. There are many many cells, on very different frequencies, running in parallel, atop one another, in complex hierarchical topographies.

Could you take one down with a few thousand #SIM cards?

#USSS
#Telecom