A judge in Texas has granted preliminary approval for a deal that will grant a $177 million total settlement to address two recent AT&T data breaches.
According to reporting from PCMag, eligible customers will receive notifications this summer via email or physical letter from the settlement administrator. Ideally, the funds will be distributed before the final approval hearing on December 3rd.
A court document indicates that the settlement program should officially begin on August 4th, with payments to be sent out beginning early next year, depending upon the judge granting final approval.
The total amount of money offered to each individual will depend on the number of affected users who submit claims and the varying degrees of personal data exposed. Users may be eligible for up to $5,000 for the 2019 data breach, and up to $2,500 for the Snowflake incident if they submit documentation to show the losses they suffered.
The settlement is meant to address two data breaches, including one that occurred back in 2019 and went on for years.
As a result of that breach, threat actors had access to the personal information including names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates of 51 million former and existing customers. AT&T confirmed the breach only this past March; several class action lawsuits followed accusing the company that it hadn’t properly safeguarded the stolen data.
The second data breach involved AT&T’s account with Snowflake, a cloud storage provider, and a hacker that gained unauthorized access during April of 2024.
The hacker responsible for the breach obtained call and text records for almost all of AT&T’s customers; though AT&T claims no customer names were included in the exposed information. Additional class action lawsuits alleging corporate neglect followed. Law enforcement did arrest two individuals alleged to be involved in the Snowflake breach though.
AT&T has said in a statement that it has “agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation,” but the company denies the allegations in the lawsuits that suggest it was responsible for any criminals acts.
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