A Cyberattack Behind the Week-Long Outage at Cellcom Wireless Network
Cellcom, a regional wireless carrier based in Wisconsin, has confirmed that a cyberattack was responsible for the week-long outage affecting its voice and text services in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The company announced that it had protocols in place to mitigate such incidents and has been working tirelessly to restore its services.
The cyberattack, which occurred over the past week, targeted a specific area of Cellcom's network that is not linked to the storage of sensitive information. Fortunately, there is no evidence to suggest that customer personal or financial information was compromised during the attack. According to Cellcom, the incident was concentrated on an area of their network separate from where they store sensitive information related to customers.
Cellcom has been working closely with external cybersecurity experts and local authorities to mitigate the impact of the cyberattack. The company notified its customers and the FBI about the incident, and it has provided a timeline for restoring its services.
"We experienced a cyber incident," reads the letter sent to Cellcom's customers. "While this is unfortunate, it's not something we were unprepared for. We have protocols and plans in place for exactly this kind of situation. From the start, we've followed those plans — including engaging outside cybersecurity experts, notifying the FBI and Wisconsin officials, and working around the clock to bring systems safely back online."
The company expects to fully restore its services by the end of this week, but it did not provide an exact timeline for completion. Cellcom stated that its team is making progress and estimates that full service will be restored "by or before the end of this week."
While details about the attack remain scarce, experts have pointed to the possibility of a ransomware attack as the likely cause of the outage. However, no ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.
"We would like to provide a timeline for full restoration, but we are unable to share exact milestones with complete confidence," states Cellcom. "Our team continues to build on the progress shared yesterday and our best estimate is that full service will be restored by or before the end of this week."
Cellcom's incident highlights the importance of having robust cybersecurity measures in place, especially for regional carriers like itself. The company's swift response to the attack demonstrates its commitment to protecting customer data and restoring services as quickly as possible.
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