The global leader in satellite broadcasting, DISH, reported on Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that a ransomware attack was the source of “system issues” that occurred over the weekend. An 8-K form filing made by DISH verified the allegations that the company had been infected by ransomware. The document also included a warning that the company had discovered on Monday that “some data was retrieved from the Corporation’s IT systems as part of this incident.”
They went on to say that when it was discovered that “the disruption was due to a cybersecurity issue,” the appropriate authorities were alerted. According to the statement made by the corporation, “it is probable that the inquiry may discover that the material that was collected contains personal information.” “Both the forensic investigation and the evaluation of the effect of this occurrence are still continuing at this time. Nonetheless, the Corporation’s internal communications, customer contact centers, and internet sites have been disrupted by the outage. DISH, Sling, and our wireless and data networks continue to function normally. The Corporation is hard at work fixing the damaged systems, and they are making consistent headway.
The hack compromised the company’s internal communications as well as its consumer contact centers and websites.
They went on to say that they would get in touch with consumers in the event that it became out that client data had been taken during the attack.
A representative for the company stated in a statement that “as a consequence of this event, many of our customers are experiencing difficulty contacting our support desks, accessing their accounts, and making payments.”
This past weekend was the first time that customers noticed that the DISH website and a number of its subsidiaries were having technical difficulties. Several DISH customers reported that, in addition to having problems accessing DISH websites and customer care channels, they also had trouble logging into some channels using their DISH login credentials. Some have voiced their frustration at not being able to pay their bills because of the power disruptions.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.