Residents in Eagle Mountain experienced days-long internet outages and inconsistent service from Direct Communications, stemming from a cyberattack on an upstream provider. The disruption, which began last Thursday, impacted home-based workers, families, and even Eagle Mountain's City Hall, causing widespread frustration throughout the community.
Direct Communications acknowledged the issue and provided updates, but its office was closed and phone lines were down on Monday due to the same outage affecting customer service capabilities. The company first reported the service interruptions last Thursday. Over the weekend, Direct Communications updated customers multiple times, explaining that an upstream provider had been "maliciously targeted." By Monday, attempts to contact Direct Communications by phone were met with a recorded message stating, "We are currently aware of an outage affecting some customers. Our engineers are actively investigating…and we are still working to determine the full scope of the outage."
The prolonged outage proved particularly challenging for Eagle Mountain residents who rely on internet access for work and daily activities. Jessica Newman, an 11-year resident, runs an Etsy store selling digital files, including stickers and holiday-themed items. Newman stated that her internet service has been "very inconsistent," making it difficult to operate her online business. "It’s really hard to sell digital things when I can’t get onto a digital device," Newman said, highlighting the direct impact on her livelihood. She reported that residents working from home resorted to creative solutions, such as using phone hotspots, often switching between devices to find a working connection. Newman even considered traveling to her parents' home in American Fork to complete orders.
Despite the widespread frustration and "angry comments" observed on social media, Newman expressed a degree of understanding for Direct Communications. She suggested that the company, perhaps being smaller, might not have anticipated such an attack or had extensive redundancies in place, implying that this could be an area for future improvement as they grow.
Eagle Mountain's City Hall was also affected by the outage for a period. However, city officials confirmed that they were operational by Monday morning.
Late Monday evening, Direct Communications shared a service update on its Facebook page. The company stated it was "continuing to work urgently to fully resolve the matter" and confirmed that "internet service availability is restored" as of Monday afternoon. Direct Communications also indicated it is collaborating with third-party cybersecurity specialists to investigate the incident, identify the cause, and implement measures to prevent similar occurrences. The company apologized for the disruption and asked for customers' patience, promising further updates. For customers still experiencing issues, Direct Communications advised power cycling their routers by unplugging them for about 30 seconds before plugging them back in. They also noted that routers that had been factory reset during the outage would require re-setup before Wi-Fi would function normally.
