Dish Network Confirms Ransomware Outage

Satellite television company Dish Network has revealed ransomware to be the cause of a multi-day outage impacting customers.

The Colorado-headquartered firm, which also owns wireless service provider Boost Mobile and streaming provider Sling, revealed the news in an SEC filing yesterday.

The 8-K form noted that Dish Network “experienced a network outage that affected internal servers and IT telephony” on February 23.

“The corporation immediately activated its incident response and business continuity plans designed to contain, assess and remediate the situation,” it continued. “The services of cybersecurity experts and outside advisors were retained to assist in the evaluation of the situation. The corporation has determined that the outage was due to a cybersecurity incident and notified appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Further on in the filing, the firm more explicitly cited a “ransomware attack” as the culprit.

There could also be further trouble ahead for its customers.

“On February 27, 2023, the corporation became aware that certain data was extracted from the corporation’s IT systems as part of this incident. It is possible the investigation will reveal that the extracted data includes personal information,” it said.

“The measures described above are continuing while the corporation, with the assistance of third-party experts and advisors, investigates the extent of the cybersecurity incident.”

The incident downed both the Dish and Boost Mobile website and support lines. Boost Mobile users were reportedly also told they may have trouble paying their bill.

A notice on the Dish Network website currently makes no mention of ransomware or even a cyber-attack, saying only: “We are experiencing a system issue that our teams are working hard to resolve.”

Dish acknowledged the issues in its regulatory filing.

“Dish, Sling and our wireless and data networks remain operational; however the corporation’s internal communications, customer call centers and internet sites have been affected,” it said. “The corporation is actively engaged in restoring the affected systems and is making steady progress.”

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