Dish Network Offline Following Cyberattack, Staff Disconnected

By   Adeola Adegunwa
Writer , Informationsecuritybuzz | Feb 27, 2023 01:12 am PST

The websites and apps of Dish Network, a leading American TV company and satellite broadcaster, have unexpectedly stopped working for the past 24 hours. According to customers, the company’s call center phone numbers appear to be unavailable. A number of the company’s websites and networks, including Dish.com, the Dish Anywhere app, and others, are all affected by the widespread outage.

Customers also have trouble authenticating while using their Dish credentials to sign into TV channel apps like MTV & Starz. Remote workers at Dish Network can no longer access their work systems. Customers cannot access their accounts on Dish Network websites or apps like Dish.com, DishWireless.com, or Dish Anywhere, and they are unable to stream TV online.

The Dish Anywhere Android app was also suffering connection problems; the app Dish Anywhere is not accessible. Consumers have also mentioned having issues calling customer service centers or paying their bills. The network is making a lot of effort to regain access, according to the company’s Twitter support account, “Dish Answers,” which reports that “an internal systems issue is hurting some of our customer service operations.”

Email Sent By Dish Network To Remote Workers

The Verge also revealed an internal email sent by management to Dish Network employees informing them of a persistent “VPN issue.” According to two sources who spoke to the media outlet, management urged them to “stand by” while they awaited information, but they never received it.

The report claims that it has yet to be made clear whether they will be reimbursed. According to the company announcement, employees need to be able to connect to their VPN to prevent remote workers from signing in to work.

Workers claim a cyberattack has occurred; employees at Dish Network are reporting seeing “blank icons” on their desktops, which is a sign that a “hit” has been made on the network (by a cyber assault), according to a source in touch with a Dish Network employee.

Another Dish Network employee got in touch with us a few hours after this article was published to say that Dish had actually been “cyber assaulted.”

The worker claims to have received a letter from their manager stating that the event “was caused by an outside bad actor, a recognized threat agent,” and that the business is unaware of how they acquired access. The email continues by stating that the organization is collaborating with an outside party to find a solution.

Prior to publication, however, it could be clearer if they had access to those emails throughout this occurrence. Previous to that, we dialed Dish’s phone number but have yet to receive a response.

The “internal system issue” the business was experiencing was reiterated in an automated response that was sent to us from the “Dish Answers” Twitter account.

Send an online tip or call (646) 961-3731 with a tip if you work for Dish Network and know anything about the occurrence. The author can also be reached through a Twitter direct message.

February 25th, 6:50 AM ET, Update: An additional declaration from a different Dish Network employee stated that this was a cyberattack. Removing the reference to a report from another site that was refuted by “a person familiar with the subject”

Conclusion

Websites, apps, and internal systems of Dish Network have been down for several days. The owner of Sling TV and satellite television provider chose not to reveal why the outage occurred, only stating that “an internal system issue” was to blame. Dish’s internal VPN service is down, preventing remote workers from working, and some customers claim they cannot pay for their services. On Thursday, when the outage started, CEO Erik Carlson said: “We had an internal outage this morning, which is still having an impact on our internal servers and IT telephony. Our wireless and broadband networks are up and operating, and both our Dish and Sling services are still available.”

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