Dish Network confirms cybersecurity breach

WASHINGTON (KFOR) – If you have been struggling to access your Dish Network account recently, you’re not alone.

Earlier this month, Dish Network claimed that a “network outage” was impacting services. As a result of the “outage,” the company’s website was down for several days.

Now, we’re getting a better idea of what caused the outage.

In a statement on its website, Dish said the February 23 outage was sparked by a “cybersecurity incident,” which also impacted internal communications and customer call centers.

“We immediately activated our incident response and business continuity plans to contain, assess and remediate the situation,” the company writes. “We retained the services of cybersecurity experts and outside advisors to assist in the evaluation of the situation, and we notified appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Company officials say internal communications and customer call centers are still being impacted.

On Tuesday, Dish confirmed “certain data” was obtained from its IT systems during the cybersecurity breach. So far, it’s unclear what data was taken.

“It’s possible the investigation will reveal that the extracted data includes personal information,” the company says. Officials are still working to determine what was impacted by the breach.

If any customers’ data was obtained, Dish says it will “take the appropriate steps and let any impacted customers know.”

Customers may still have trouble accessing their accounts, making payments, or contacting customer service, Dish notes. The company says customers will not lose service if they can’t make a payment while Dish systems are impacted, and late fees for those unable to make payments will be removed.

At this point, other details about the breach have not been released.