Dish Network, which is in the midst of a cybersecurity crisis, has named Jonathan Sipling as SVP and chief marketing officer for Retail Wireless. In his new role Sipling will oversee marketing strategy and operations for Boost Mobile, Boost Infinite and the Dish retail wireless business. Prior to joining Dish, Sipling held marketing leadership roles at Wayfair, Amazon, Adidas and McKinsey & Company.
Sipling has joined the company at a very difficult time as Dish is still dealing with the fallout from a cybersecurity attack that occurred on February 23.
“Jonathan is joining Dish Wireless at an important moment in our evolution as we look to expand our offerings and monetize our Dish 5G network,” said John Swieringa, president and COO of Dish Wireless, in a statement.
Indeed, it is an important moment for the company. Dish Wireless has been losing subscribers of its prepaid wireless service Boost Mobile for several quarters. And the rollout of its new postpaid service Boost Infinite has been repeatedly delayed.
In addition to its challenges with Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite, Dish Wireless is also building its greenfield 5G network, with a commitment to cover 70% of the U.S. population by mid-June.
On top of these normal business challenges, Dish Wireless and its satellite business are struggling with major back office problems since the cyberattack.
According to multiple postings on a site called Satellite Guys, Dish experienced a ransomware attack on February 23, and it chose not to pay the ransom. Instead, it’s working to rebuild its customer service systems. Based on comments in the Satellite Guys forum, it has a lot of angry customers and angry retailers of its direct broadcast satellite (DBS) business. Since the cyberattack also hit Dish Wireless’ back-office systems, those customers are likely frustrated as well.
Today, Eric Noonan, CEO of Cybersheath, which works with companies in the defense industry, said, “This apparent breach and the lack of a coherent, consistent and forthcoming response is surprising for a publicly traded company. Dish has released very little information, almost no updates and failed to visibly demonstrate that they are bringing to bear all of the appropriate forces to mount a competent response.’
Just today, the Washington Post published an article saying investors are increasingly scrutinizing companies’ cybersecurity resources and policies before lending them money.