Sling TV Fully Operational After Cyber Attack on Dish Network; Other Issues Still Linger
Cyber attacks are one of the hazards of doing business in the age of the internet. Criminals are constantly thinking of new ways to part people from their money, whether it’s in the form of an old-fashioned bank robbery or a data mining expedition into a company’s servers.
Dish Network has been reeling from a cyber attack targeting multiple segments of its operations since the end of February, but the company has been working to resolve the issues caused by the attack. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Dish has now restored full service to its live TV streaming platform Sling TV across the United States.
Other issues are still lingering for Dish customers, however. Many subscribers are still struggling to access third-party streaming services that they have signed up for through their Dish accounts, most notably HBO Max. Others report still being unable to access their Dish services at all, and that customer service waiting times can stretch on for hours.
These problems surely won’t help Dish mitigate its customer losses in 2022. Cord cutting led to Dish losing over 800,000 customers last year, and WSJ cites an estimate from New Street Research that the company lost a further 75,000 potential new subscribers because of the cyber attack and the ongoing bugs it has caused.
Dish still has yet to reveal whether customer data was affected in the breach. That is causing a high amount of frustration amongst users, who have no way of knowing if their payment data is safe until they get word from the company. Fubo, another live TV service that endured a cyber attack in late 2022, provided an update on customer financial data less than two weeks after the initial incident took place. The Dish attack took place on Feb. 28, so while the company made the breach known fairly early in the process, nearly a month has passed with no transparency for customers regarding the security of their data.
For its part, in addition to the restoration of Sling TV service, Dish representatives note that the company has also restored mydish.com, which allows customers to review billing information and adjust their accounts. Additionally, Dish reports its wireless voice service Boost Mobile is up and running again.
Sling TV
Sling TV is a live TV streaming service that helps users save money with the option of two distinct plans. The $40/month “Sling Orange” plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $40/month “Sling Blue” plan offers about 40 channels, including Fox and NBC local channels.