Judge Reportedly Approves AT&T's $177M Data Breach Settlement, But Retail Stays Cautious

Telecommunications firm AT & T Inc.(T) has reached a $177 million preliminary settlement to put to rest a series of lawsuits stemming from data breaches that compromised the personal information of millions of its customers across the United States.

A Reuters report said the agreement was deemed fair and reasonable by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown during a hearing on Friday in Dallas federal court, where the class-action lawsuit was being litigated. 

Depending on the specific breach and impact, affected customers may receive up to $2,500 or $5,000 for documented losses directly connected to the incidents. 

One of the incidents led to unauthorized downloads of approximately 109 million accounts, including call and text log data from 2022. This information was reportedly extracted from AT & T's cloud system managed via Snowflake Inc. (SNOW). 

The breach impacted a six-month timeframe, compromising nearly the entire customer base.

In March 2024, AT & T announced that it was investigating a data set discovered on the dark web. Initial findings indicated the data included information on 7.6 million current and over 65 million past customers. 

The compromised data appeared to predate 2020, likely originating from 2019 or earlier. The Federal Communications Commission is conducting a separate inquiry.

In November 2024, a TechCrunch report revealed that the Department of Justice formally charged the two hackers, referring to their victim as a primary U.S. telecom provider. 

These details closely match disclosures AT & T made about compromised metadata from customer communications.

Authorities allege that the two carried out a year-long extortion campaign, demanding roughly $2.5 million in Bitcoin from several affected firms. 

They reportedly infiltrated AT & T's cloud systems in November 2023, along with data from other Snowflake clients.

As digital threats grow more complex and frequent, class-action litigation is becoming a key mechanism for holding companies accountable and compensating affected individuals. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around AT & T remained in 'bearish' territory.

AT & T stock has gained over 22% in 2025 and 54% in the last 12 months.

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