American TV giant and satellite provider Dish Network has mysteriously gone offline as its websites and apps stopped working for the past 24 hours.
The widespread outage affects Dish.com, the Dish Anywhere app, and several of the company’s websites and networks. Customers also point out that the company’s call center phone numbers are unreachable.
Additionally, customers face authentication issues when logging into TV broadcaster apps like MTV & Starz using their Dish credentials.
Dish Network’s remote workers have been cut off from access to their work systems.
Dish Network website, phones, apps offline
Dish Network websites and apps including Dish.com, DishWireless.com and Dish Anywhere are facing an extended outage as customers are unable to access their accounts or watch online TV:
Dish.com website offline amid “internal system problem” (BleepingComputer)
BleepingComputer also observed that the Dish Anywhere Android app was experiencing connection issues:
Dish Anywhere app unavailable (BleepingComputer)
Customers have also reported having problems when trying to pay their bills or calling customer service centers.
The company’s Twitter support account, Dish Answers, states that “an internal system issue is affecting some of our customer service operations” and that the network is working hard to restore access.
A report published by The Verge also shows an internal email sent to Dish Network employees, in which management informs them of an ongoing “VPN issue”.
Dish Network email to remote collaborators (The Verge)
Two sources told the media that they were asked to “stand by” for information from management but were kept in the dark.
“They say it’s not even clear if they’ll get paid,” the report said. “Employees have also been told they can’t connect to their VPN, preventing remote workers from logging in to work.”
Whether it is a cyber attack or not, several signs point to it, but there is only speculation and conflicting information.
A source in contact with a Dish Network employee told BleepingComputer that the network was “hit by a cyberattack” with employees seeing “blank icons” on their desktops – something that usually occurs after a ransomware infection has encrypted the victim’s files.
But “a person familiar with the issue” told The Desk that the network’s problems weren’t the result of a cyberattack, but didn’t offer any additional details.
BleepingComputer emailed the Dish Network press team ahead of the release, but it’s not clear if they have access to their emails during this incident. Previously we tried to reach Dish by phone but received no reply.
An automated response sent to us by the Dish Answers Twitter account repeated the “internal system issue” the company was facing.
BleepingComputer continues to investigate the matter and will provide you with updates as more information becomes available.
