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AT&T reached a US$177 million settlement over two data breaches in March and July 2024. Affected users can apply for compensation, some of which are up to US$5,000, depending on the damage caused and the type of data leakage.
According to the telecommunications giant New York PostAT&T The total amount of the class action lawsuit settlement over the two data breach incidents is up to US$177 million, and eligible affected users can receive up to US$5,000 in compensation.
The two security incidents occurred in March and July 2024 respectively. After several users filed a lawsuit accusing AT&T of failing to properly protect customer data, the company eventually agreed to a settlement. The Federal Court formally approved the settlement agreement on October 2.
If no one appeals, the settlement agreement will take effect on November 12, and compensation must be paid within 60 days of it taking effect.
The $177 million settlement is divided into two parts: $149 million for the March 2024 data breach and $28 million for the July incident.
The leaked information included Social Security numbers, addresses and account passwords, affecting more than 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former customers.
If eligible users can submit documents proving that they suffered out-of-pocket losses due to the data breach in March 2024, they can apply for compensation of up to US$5,000; They can also choose to receive cash compensation calculated at different levels.
Large class action settlements often have tiers of compensation based on the victim’s circumstances. For example, Level 1 damage typically applies to users whose highly sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers, has been compromised. As long as there is documentary evidence that data was actually compromised, you may be eligible for this type of compensation even if you cannot prove actual financial loss.
As far as the July 2024 incident is concerned, the leaked material included call and text message interaction records stored on third-party cloud platforms. Users affected by this incident can apply for compensation of up to US$2,500 if they can prove that they have actually suffered losses. Nearly all AT&T customers were affected by the second data breach, the report said.
According to court documents, multiple victims said the data breach resulted in serious issues of identity theft, including theft of funds from bank accounts and fraudulent loan applications in their names.
AT&T said in its 2024 statement that it was unclear whether the leaked information came from the company itself or from its suppliers.
According to reports, the July 2024 incident involved someone illegally downloading data stored in the work environment of AT&T’s third-party cloud platform. Media reports and letters from members of Congress pointed out that the platform is Snowflake, a cloud data analytics company that primarily helps companies store and analyze large amounts of data.
However, AT&T has never confirmed the source of the data leaked in March 2024. A few days after the July incident came to light, members of Congress mentioned Snowflake in letters sent; However, AT&T’s statement and documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) only mentioned third-party cloud platforms and did not directly name Snowflake.
According to The Sun, the class action settlement received more than 4.9 million claims, of which 3 million were approved. Another 1.1 million applications were rejected for reasons such as overdue, duplicate, suspicion of fraud, waiver of right to claim, voluntary withdrawal, or the company’s application being ineligible.
Litigation members who submit valid claim applications before the deadline are expected to receive compensation before the end of 2026.
Eligible users originally had until December 18, 2025, to submit claims. Under the stated terms of the agreement, no new applications can be filed at this time.
