Lumen Technologies revealed in an SEC filing that it recently suffered two separate hacks, one of which involved criminal ransomware. The company said it is still investigating the two incidents but that it "does not believe the incidents have had or will have a material adverse impact on its ability to serve its customers or its business, operations or financial results."

Other US telecom operators have suffered similar intrusions in recent weeks. Perhaps the most high-profile attack was the "cyber-security incident" at Dish Network that brought the company's customer-care services to a screeching halt for weeks. Dish's websites no longer warn customers that it's trying to "get services back up," but company officials have not offered much in the way of details.

As for Lumen, the company said that last week it discovered "that a malicious intruder had inserted criminal ransomware into a limited number of the company's servers that support a segmented hosting service. This intrusion is currently degrading the operations of a small number of the company's enterprise customers."

Figure 1: (Source: NicoElNino/Alamy Stock Photo)

Lumen said it "continues to evaluate potential responses to the ransomware attack."

The company said the second hack involved a "sophisticated intruder" that it discovered after installing some new security software. The hacker "accessed a limited number of the company's internal information technology systems, including conducting reconnaissance of these systems, installing malware and extracting a relatively limited amount of data."

Concluded Lumen: "The company is continuing to assess the potential impact of both events, including whether any personally identifiable or other sensitive information has been exfiltrated. Lumen continues to work with several external advisors, impacted customers and relevant authorities to assess and mitigate the impacts from these incidents."

Lumen is one of the nation's biggest fiber network operators, with both consumer and business customers.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano