Dish Network Hit by Ransomware Attack
Dish Network was the victim of a ransomware attack last month. The DISH Network Corporation has around 19 million customers and owns several companies - including the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish Network. Other brands under the corporation include Sing TV, Boost Mobile, and IPTV.
From the 23rd of February, Dish Network began having outages across its platforms that affected its websites, communications, and apps. Customers complained about not being able to sign into TV channel apps such as MTV & Starz via their Dish credentials.
Sourced from BleepingComputer
Dish Network said it had “a system issue” and even told customers complaining on Twitter the same thing.
Sourced from Twitter
The Verge revealed an internal email sent to Dish Network employees from management that warned them of an “ongoing VPN issue.” The Verge also spoke to people who claim the company kept them in the dark. These people said that employees would not be able to connect to their VPN. This basically cut off all remote workers from the network.
The company also asked workers not to use their Dish-issued laptops. Especially if they had been connected to the company’s network or VPN after 11 PM on Wednesday.
Another source told BleepingComputer that the outages were probably the result of a cyber-attack. These sources went on to say that workers were seeing “blank icons” on their screens. This typically occurs after a ransomware infection encrypts the victim's files.
Another worker said that they'd gotten a written message from their manager confirming the incident. The message said "an outside bad actor, a known threat agent" had gained access.
Dish released a public filing on the 28th of February admitting to there being “a cybersecurity incident.” The company claimed that this incident is what caused the outages. They also said that certain data had been extracted from the IT systems that could contain personal information. The company later confirmed that the “network outage” was the result of a cybersecurity breach, which affected the company’s internal communications systems and customer-facing support sites.
Dish said that if any customer data had been taken, they would inform affected parties immediately. In a release, the company assures that its teams are making progress on the customer service front every day.
However, a month later, customers are still having trouble accessing certain services and getting through to call centers. NBC News reported that some Dish customers had to face up to 15 hours of waiting on the call.
The Wall Street Journal spoke to some Dish customers who said they would be canceling their subscriptions as soon as possible. They also reported that Dish had lost about 75,000 potential new pay-TV customers. This was due to the hack preventing new subscribers for nearly a month.
Additionally, the hack could drag down the company’s 2023 revenue by US$ 325 million. Dish company's stocks have already started to fall. Analysts have cited subscriber loss and the damage from the cyber-attack among the reasons why.
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