Dish Wireless

History

2023

Dish Wireless bought EchoStar Corporation

On August 8, 2023, Dish Network Corporation, the world's largest satellite television operator, announced the conclusion of a deal to acquire a competitor - EchoStar Corporation. The transaction amount is approximately $4 billion. Read more here.

Ransom payment to hackers after ransomware virus attack

In mid-May 2023, it became known that the American television provider Dish Network, apparently, paid a significant ransom to cybercriminals after the ransomware virus attack.

The incident occurred in February 2023. No ransomware gang has officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but according to BleepingComputer, the Black Basta criminal group may be involved in the invasion. The attackers first bypassed the protection of the wireless service provider Boost Mobile (owned by Dish Wireless), and then penetrated the corporate Dish Network. The hackers then encrypted servers VMware ESXi and their backups. This provoked a massive malfunction IT infrastructures of the TV provider: various web services and applications were affected.

Dish Network paid a significant ransom to cybercriminals after ransomware virus attack

Dish Network informed the Maine Attorney General's Office that the attack resulted in a data breach affecting a total of nearly 297,000 people. The attackers had at their disposal such information as the names and personal identifiers of the company's employees, driver's license numbers and (or) identity card numbers. Several lawsuits have been filed against Dish Network alleging improper information security.

The attackers demanded a ransom for the destruction of the stolen files. Dish Network "received confirmation that the stolen data was deleted," BleepingComputer reported. And this means that the operator most likely paid the criminals the requested amount. The fact is that ransomware gangs erase stolen data or provide a decryption key only after receiving a ransom. However, experts say, there is no guarantee that the ransomware does not have a copy of the files: subsequently, blackmail may resume, or the information will be put up for sale on the Internet.^[1]

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