Dish Network has been hit by a suspected ransomware attack that’s taken down the company’s websites(Opens in a new window), apps, and customer service systems. The outage is now on its fourth day.
The company’s main website currently features this message: “We are experiencing a system issue that our teams are working hard to resolve. For help with common issues, please select the Current Customer Support option below to see our FAQs and Troubleshooting guides.”
In a statement, a Dish spokesperson said: "We experienced a systems issue with our corporate network on February 23 that is affecting our internal servers and telephone systems, and the issue is being investigated. Our DISH TV, Sling TV, Wireless services, and data networks continue to operate and are up and running. However, some of our corporate communications systems, customer care functions, and websites were affected. Our teams are working hard to restore affected systems as quickly as possible and are making steady progress."
As The Verge notes(Opens in a new window), the outage hit when Dish CEO Erik Carlson was on an earnings call. He reportedly said the company was dealing with an “internal outage that’s continuing to affect our internal servers and IT telephony.”
Dish employees told(Opens in a new window) Bleeping Computer they are seeing “blank icons” on their desktop, typical of a ransomware infection that has encrypted files.
According to a Dish employee who spoke to BleepingComputer, their manager told them the incident “was caused by a known threat agent,” though the satellite-TV provider is currently in the dark on how they gained access. It is working with an “external vendor” to fix the outage.
BleepingComputer also reports that Dish customers are having issues when they try to sign in to TV channel apps like MTV and Starz with their Dish logins. Dish customers have taken to social media to report that they cannot activate equipment or SIM cards from the company. Customers have also said they are being prevented from paying their bills.
In response to one customer who complained about the outage, the company’s Twitter support account tweeted(Opens in a new window) that an “internal systems issue is impacting some of our customer service operations,” adding, “we’ll be able to help you out as soon as our systems are back up.”
Tweet(Opens in a new window)
The same account also told(Opens in a new window) customers they won’t lose Dish service if they can't make a payment during the outage.
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The multi-day outage has left employees, particularly those working remotely who rely on VPN logins, unable to work and unsure when the issue will be resolved.
An internal email sent by Dish higher-ups to employees and published by The Verge refers to “large VPN issues,” and requested staff who were unable to log into their VPN “stay tuned for further communication…as to when this shall be fixed.”
Editors' Note: This story was updated with comment from Dish.
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