We are aware of an apparent malicious hacking event that started yesterday (April 10^th, 2017), which has affected and in many cases, temporarily disabled modems in many Sierra Tel customers’ homes. We know this is very disruptive to our customers, neighbors and friends. We are doing everything we can to respond.

We are devoting all available resources to investigating and responding to this event. The technical details of what has happened are not yet completely known. Current information suggests a malicious third party hack or software virus, simply to cause disruption, inconvenience and other harm. It appears that Zyxel modems model HN-51 are the modems affected in this incident.

Similar recent events in other communities have often but not always involved lone hackers and amateur troublemakers. We are seeking law enforcement assistance to investigate and track down any perpetrators. We have no reason to know it involves anything unique or specific to our community or Sierra Tel, except a local occurrence of a larger ongoing problem.

It appears that disabled modems can be reset to work by our technical staff or replaced with a different modem model, and we are assisting as many customers as possible. We appreciate your patience. We will release additional information as it becomes available.

Additional information and periodic updates are available on our web site www.sierratel.com, or by telephone at 559-683-4611, 209-966-3636 or 877-658-4611.