The listings featured on this site are from companies from which this site receives compensation. This influences: Appearance, order, and manner in which these listings are presented.
Disclosure:
Professional Reviews

vpnMentor contains reviews that are written by our community reviewers. These take into consideration the reviewers’ independent and professional examination of the products/services.

Ownership

vpnMentor was established in 2014 as an independent site reviewing VPN services and covering privacy-related stories. Today, our team of hundreds of cybersecurity researchers, writers, and editors continues to help readers fight for their online freedom in partnership with Kape Technologies PLC, which also owns the following products: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, ZenMate, Private Internet Access, and Intego, which may be reviewed on this website.

Affiliate Commissions Advertising

vpnMentor contains reviews that follow the strict reviewing standards, including ethical standards, that we have adopted. Such standards require that each review will take into consideration the independent, honest and professional examination of the reviewer. That being said, we may earn a commission when a user completes an action using our links, at no additional cost to them. On listicle pages, we rank vendors based on a system that prioritizes the reviewer’s examination of each service, but also considers feedback received from our readers and our commercial agreements with providers.

Reviews Guidelines

The reviews published on vpnMentor are written by community reviewers that examine the products according to our strict reviewing standards. Such standards ensure that each review prioritizes the independent, professional and honest examination of the reviewer, and takes into account the technical capabilities and qualities of the product together with its commercial value for users. The rankings we publish may also take into consideration the affiliate commissions we earn for purchases through links on our website.

DISH Ransomware Attack Impacted Nearly 300,000 People

DISH Ransomware Attack Impacted Nearly 300,000 People
Husain Parvez Published on 25th May 2023 Cybersecurity Researcher

Last week, American satellite TV giant DISH Network notified the Maine Attorney General regarding a data breach and provided a copy of the notification letter sent to affected individuals. According to the company's report to authorities, the incident involved over 296,000 current and former employees, their family members, and a limited number of other individuals. Allegedly, customer databases were not accessed in the incident.

The security incident initially came to the forefront in late February, when several DISH services, including its websites and applications, became inaccessible. Following an investigation, the company confirmed that the outage resulted from a cyber attack. At the time, DISH did not confirm whether customer or employee data had been exfiltrated in the attack.

While not confirmed, it is implied that DISH Network has paid a ransom by stating they "received confirmation that the extracted data has been deleted." Ransomware groups typically delete data or provide a decryption key only after a ransom has been paid. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that DISH could have received confirmation of data deletion without making any payment.

The Russia-linked Black Basta gang, who were allegedly behind the attack, have also not updated their data leak site with DISH. This is another potential sign that DISH gave into demands and paid a ransom to prevent the spread of data.

Employees and customers of DISH have been waiting three months to receive any insight into whether their potentially sensitive information was stolen. Notification letters were only sent to affected individuals as of May 15th. This notification revealed that hackers had access to driver's license numbers and other forms of identification, though DISH has stated that there is no evidence of this data being actively exploited.

Regardless, the company is taking precautionary measures. DISH is offering free credit monitoring services to affected individuals and scanning the dark web to keep an eye out for stolen data resurfacing. They are also performing online monitoring to ensure that any stolen information isn’t being sold or misused, despite the stolen data being allegedly deleted.

About the Author

Husain Parvez is a Cybersecurity Researcher and News Writer at vpnMentor, focusing on VPN reviews, detailed how-to guides, and hands-on tutorials. Husain is also a part of the vpnMentor Cybersecurity News bulletin and loves covering the latest events in cyberspace and data privacy.