Cyberattack disrupts Tidewater Telecom internet service across coastal Maine

A cyberattack against Tidewater Telecom beginning July 19, 2026 caused widespread internet disruption across 23 towns in Maine's midcoast region. Tidewater said malicious traffic was clogging its network and worked with upstream internet providers to block the traffic. Residential, business and municipal connectivity was affected. Damariscotta Town Office reported spotty or unavailable internet that significantly limited municipal services, while other reporting described additional town-office impacts. Tidewater reported services returning to near-normal conditions on July 21. The observed traffic-flooding behavior supports classification as a denial-of-service attack, although the company did not publicly confirm that it was distributed.