Dish officials state that their systems were infected with a ransomware virus sometime in early May and that intruders have since extracted sensitive data from their systems. While the extent of the damage is not yet known, Dish officials are warning customers of potential disruptions to services while they work to restore full functionality.
Dish customers are currently experiencing issues with their main website, apps, and customer support systems. The outage is also affecting Dish’s Sling TV streaming service and wireless services. So far, there is no word on when the problems will be fixed or when Dish customers can expect to be back in business.
Given the nature of this particular cyber-security incident, Dish is likely to face significant scrutiny from both its customers and the press. The company will need to demonstrate that it is taking adequate precautions against such incidents in the future, or risk losing trust among its loyal customer base.
At present, the company is unsure whether or not it will be able to fully recover from the ransomware attack and has put together a team of experts to try and assess the full impact of the attack. While they may be able to partially recover, they are also anticipating that there will be significant losses associated with this event.
The attackers gained access to some data from Dish’s IT systems, including personal information belonging to customers. The scope of the data theft remains unclear, but it could affect millions of people.
“Dish spokesperson Edward Wietecha did not immediately respond to our questions,” Dish said in a statement. “We continually evaluate our portfolio of products and services to ensure they are the best possible options for our customers.”
The omission of DirecTV leaves many consumers wondering if such a service will ever come to them, as the satellite TV
Shortly after midnight on Thursday, September 14, 2018, an unknown actor compromised the systems at a major U.S. cable and satellite company. Within minutes of the attack, sensitive data representing millions of customers was publicly exposed on various websites and social media platforms. The affected company’s systems remained operational until early Friday morning when widespread outages began affecting Dish Network’s television service as well as datacard services and website access for Millions of Dish customers nationwide.
In the wake of its massive data breach last month, Dish Network has been hit with another problem: its employees can’t work. Employees have reported that they are not allowed to log into Dish-issued devices or corporate VPNs, effectively preventing them from doing their jobs. This is only compounded by the fact that internal communications, customer call centers and internal sites are all offline as a result of the incident.
Since the incident, staff have been kept in the dark about when they will be able to return to work. The company has not released any information about what happened or when employees will be able to resume their duties. Employees seem frustrated and don’t know what is going on.
Update: On Thursday, December 15th, 2016, the FBI released a statement indicating that it is investigating attacks that have affected businesses in recent weeks. The FBI continues to investigate and has not identified any specific group or actor responsible for these attacks.
Cybersecurity expert Carly Page told reporters that Dish contacted her about a cyberattack targeting the company on Monday. Page said that the attack appeared to be “state-sponsored” and she urged customers to take steps to protect themselves. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Network (CTIN) has not yet released its findings about the attack, but Page urged businesses in general to take preventative measures against cyberattacks.
