Dish Network Likely Suffers Cyberattack, Services Remain Offline

The websites and phone lines of DISH Network Corporation, a satellite television provider, have been unavailable since Thursday.

Dish Network’s websites and numerous customer care phone lines are down due to an unforeseen outage that the company is describing as an “internal system issue.”

A Multi-Day Internal Outage at Dish Network

Customers are also having trouble authenticating while using their Dish credentials to sign into TV channel apps like MTV & Starz. Also, remote workers at Dish Network are no longer able to access their work systems.

The report says customers are experiencing a prolonged outage that prevents them from accessing their accounts or streaming TV on Dish Network websites and apps, such as Dish[.]com, DishWireless[.]com, and Dish Anywhere.

The Dish[.]com website was mostly empty on Thursday and Friday, other than the company’s logo and the message: “We apologize for any disruptions you may be having. We are experiencing an internal system issue and our teams are working hard to restore systems as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.”

According to a DISH spokesperson, since Thursday it has been experiencing a “systems issue with our corporate network” that affects “internal servers and telephone systems.”

“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.”

The Dish Anywhere Android app was also suffering connection problems, according to BleepingComputer.

Consumers have also mentioned having issues trying to call customer service centers or pay their bills.

The Verge also revealed an internal email sent by management to Dish Network employees informing them of an ongoing “VPN issue.” Employees told The Verge they were sent very little information about the outage but were advised not to worry about not being able to access the company’s virtual private network or VPN.

“They say it hasn’t even been made clear whether they’ll be paid,” states the report. “Employees have also been told that they won’t be able to connect to their VPN, keeping remote workers from logging in to work.”

Employees at Dish Network are reporting seeing “blank icons” on their desktops, which is a sign that the network has been “hit” (by a cyber-attack), according to a source in touch with a Dish Network employee who spoke to BleepingComputer.

The employee claims to have received a letter from their manager stating that the event “was caused by an outside bad actor, a known threat agent,” and that the company is unaware of how they acquired access.

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