KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Spectrum officials Monday called a 200 percent increase in attacks on its cable infrastructure so far this year in Missouri “acts of domestic terrorism.”
The company said the attacks affect connectivity to government, business and residential customers.
Spectrum customers across the Kansas City area have been victims of several infrastructure attacks in 2025, including a June 20 attack in which a suspect cut an above-ground cable.
“The impact is that of domestic terrorism, cutting off access to critical services, preventing vital communications during times of emergency and crisis, creating a pervasive and persistent threat to families and businesses in Missouri, and across the country,” Tom Monaghan, Charter’s executive vice president, field operations, said Monday in a release. “We need the continued support of law enforcement, an increased commitment to prosecuting the criminals behind these attacks and help from the public by reporting suspicious activity when they see it.”
The company estimates the attacks have caused 148 outages this year in Missouri alone. Across the country, the industry reported as many as 6,000 attacks between June and December 2024.
Spectrum has continued to offer a reward of up to $25,000 that leads to the arrest of a suspect behind an attack.
In Monday’s release, the company called on state and federal legislators to increase penalties for those convicted of attacks. The company said Missouri was one of 11 states this year that made an attack on communications infrastructure a felony offense.
“Our teams work tirelessly to provide the highest level of service and reliability to our customers, and these felony, criminal attacks cause outages that go far beyond the inconvenience of lost connectivity,” Monaghan said.
Anyone with information about an attack is asked to contact their local law enforcement or a TIPS line set up by Spectrum at 833-404-8477.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
