Dish Network confirms “cybersecurity incident” with possible stolen personal data; stock falls to 14-year low

Dish Network shares extended their multi-day slide on Tuesday, falling another 6% to a 14-year low of $11.41 after the pay-TV and wireless provider confirmed that its systems had been hit by a cyberattack.

Outages and new information about them came in waves. When executives convened a conference call last Thursday to announce fourth-quarter results, they acknowledged that internal servers and IT resources were down. In a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday, the company said it discovered on Monday that customers’ personal information may have been “exploited” during the attack.

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“The services of cybersecurity experts and outside consultants were engaged to assist in assessing the situation,” the filing said. The company also said it had notified law enforcement.

“The forensic investigation and impact assessment of this incident is ongoing,” the filing said. Dish’s satellite television service, Sling Internet TV package, and cellular and data networks are still operational, the company said, but internal communications, customer call centers, and websites were affected. “The company is actively restoring the affected systems and is making steady progress,” the filing continued.

Dish is in the midst of a long-term shift from the satellite TV business, where it started, to the telecommunications space. As part of the recent merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, Dish acquired wireless spectrum assets and has also purchased capacity at auction. At the end of 2022, Dish had 9.75 million pay-TV customers and nearly 8 million wireless customers in the consumer business.

Communicating with those millions of customers after the cyberattack was a grueling process. “We are making progress in customer service every day, including by increasing the capacity of our call center, but it will take some time before everything is fully restored,” the company said in a letter to customers that is making the rounds on social media.

In addition to the days-long tech nightmare, the company was also hit with a “double downgrade” from Bank of America analyst David Barden. He cut his rating on Dish stock by two notches, from “buy” to “underperform” (or “sell”), and cut his 12-month price target from $30 to $10.

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