Dish Network, the US-based TV provider, has experienced a widespread outage, causing its websites and apps to go offline. The company’s Dish.com, Dish Anywhere app, and other sites it owns are affected, with customers unable to authenticate their accounts or reach call center phone numbers.
Reports suggest the company’s remote employees have also been locked out of their work systems. The Verge reports an internal email from management notifying staff of an ongoing “VPN issue,” with employees uncertain whether they will be paid or when the issue will be resolved.
While Dish Answers, the company’s Twitter support account, acknowledged that an “internal systems issue is impacting some of our customer service operations,” there has been no further official communication.
Customers have taken to social media to voice their frustrations, with some reporting difficulty paying bills or contacting customer service centers. The exact cause of the outage remains unknown, with no confirmation of whether it is the result of a cyberattack.
Dish Network’s outage follows a spate of recent incidents affecting US companies, including a ransomware attack on Target’s customer service provider, TTEC, and a cyberattack that took the website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission offline. The situation is a reminder of the vulnerability of large organizations and the potential damage caused by downtime, with businesses increasingly reliant on technology and digital infrastructure to operate.
