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CNET
9 hours ago
- Business
- CNET
Free Settlement Money From AT&T: Who Qualifies and When You Can File Your Claim
While admitting no wrongdoing, the telecom giant agreed to pay out $177 million customers new and old that were impacted by two recent data breaches. AT&T/CNET If you've been an AT&T customer sometime in the last few years, you might be aware of a few recent data breaches that impacted your personal info. While that's unfortunate, I do have some good news for you: You might qualify for free money as part of a settlement the company is working towards. On Friday, June 20, US District Judge Ada Brown in Texas ruled that the terms of a settlement from AT&T were reasonable, clearing the process to move forward. The settlement as it stands will see the telecom giant pay out $177 million to customers adversely affected by at least one of the two data breaches. Some details about the process for getting paid aren't available this early on, but you can expect them to become clear later in the summer, ahead of the final approval hearing on Dec. 3. The settlement will prioritize larger payments to customers who suffered damages that are "fairly traceable" to the data leaks. It will also provide bigger payments to those impacted by the larger of the two leaks, which began in 2019. While the company is working towards a settlement, it has continued to deny that it was "responsible for these criminal acts." For all the details about we have about the settlement right now, keep reading, and for more info about other recent settlements, find out how to claim Apple's Siri privacy settlement and see if you're eligible for 23andMe's privacy breach settlement. What happened with these AT&T data breaches? AT&T first confirmed the two data breaches last year, announcing an investigation into the first in March before confirming it in May, followed by confirmation of the second one in July. The first of the confirmed breaches began in 2019. The company revealed that around 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders had their data exposed to hackers, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The company first began investigating the situation last year after it reported that customer data had appeared on the dark web. The second breach began in April of 2024, when a hacker broke into AT&T cloud storage provider Snowflake and accessed 2022 call and text records for almost all of the company's US customers, around 109 million in all. The company stressed that no names were attached to the stolen data, and two individuals were arrested in connection with the breach. Both of these incidents sparked a wave of class action lawsuits alleging corporate neglect on the part of AT&T in failing to sufficiently protect its customers. How will I know if I'm eligible for the AT&T data breach settlement? As of now, we know that the settlement will pay out to any current or former AT&T customer whose data was accessed in one of these data breaches, with higher payments reserved for those who can provide documented proof that they suffered damages directly resulting from their data being stolen. If you're eligible, you should receive a notice about it, either by email or by a physical letter in the mail, sometime in the coming months. The company expects that the claims process will begin on Aug. 4. How much will I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement? You'll have to "reasonably" prove damages caused by these data breaches to be eligible for the highest and most prioritized payouts. For the 2019 breach, those claimants can receive up to $5,000. For the Snowflake breach, the max payout will be $2,500. It's not clear at this time how the company might be handling customers who've been affected by both breaches. AT&T will focus on making those payments first, and whatever's left of the $177 million settlement total will be disbursed to anyone whose data was accessed, even without proof of damages. Since these payouts depend on how many people get the higher amounts first, we can't say definitively how much they will be. When will I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement? AT&T expects that payments will start to go out sometime early next year, though exact dates aren't available right now. The final approval needs to be given at the Dec. 3 court hearing in order for payments to being made. Stay tuned to this piece in the coming months to get all the new details as they emerge, and for more money help, check out CNET's daily tariff price impact tracker.
CNET
a day ago
- Business
- CNET
Here's How You Can Get Paid From AT&T's $177M Data Breach Settlement
The telecom giant will pay out $177 million in relation to two recent data breaches affecting current and former customers. AT&T/CNET Have you been an AT&T customer at some point in recent years? Bad news: Your personal information might've been compromised in two big data breaches. But the good news? You might be in line to get paid for it as part of a new settlement. On Friday, June 20, US District Judge Ada Brown in Texas ruled that the terms of a settlement from AT&T were reasonable, clearing the process to move forward. The settlement as it stands will see the telecom giant pay out $177 million to customers adversely affected by at least one of the two data breaches. Some of the details about the process for getting paid aren't available this early on, but you can expect them to become clear later in the summer, ahead of the final approval hearing on Dec. 3. The settlement will prioritize larger payments to customers who suffered damages that are "fairly traceable" to the data leaks. It will also provide bigger payments to those impacted by the larger of the two leaks, which began in 2019. While the company is working towards a settlement, it has continued to deny that it was "responsible for these criminal acts." For all the details about we have about the settlement right now, keep reading, and for more info about other recent settlements, find out how to claim Apple's Siri privacy settlement and see if you're eligible for 23andMe's privacy breach settlement. What happened with these AT&T data breaches? AT&T first confirmed the two data breaches last year, announcing an investigation into the first in March before confirming it in May, followed by confirmation of the second one in July. The first of the confirmed breaches began in 2019. The company revealed that around 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders had their data exposed to hackers, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The company first began investigating the situation last year after it reported that customer data had appeared on the dark web. The second breach began in April of 2024, when a hacker broke into AT&T cloud storage provider Snowflake and accessed 2022 call and text records for almost all of the company's US customers, around 109 million in all. The company stressed that no names were attached to the stolen data, and two individuals were arrested in connection with the breach. Both of these incidents sparked a wave of class action lawsuits alleging corporate neglect on the part of AT&T in failing to sufficiently protect its customers. How will I know if I'm eligible for the AT&T data breach settlement? As of now, we know that the settlement will pay out to any current or former AT&T customer whose data was accessed in one of these data breaches, with higher payments reserved for those who can provide documented proof that they suffered damages directly resulting from their data being stolen. If you're eligible, you should receive a notice about it, either by email or by a physical letter in the mail, sometime in the coming months. The company expects that the claims process will begin on Aug. 4. How much will I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement? You'll have to "reasonably" prove damages caused by these data breaches to be eligible for the highest and most prioritized payouts. For the 2019 breach, those claimants can receive up to $5,000. For the Snowflake breach, the max payout will be $2,500. It's not clear at this time how the company might be handling customers who've been affected by both breaches. AT&T will focus on making those payments first, and whatever's left of the $177 million settlement total will be disbursed to anyone whose data was accessed, even without proof of damages. Since these payouts depend on how many people get the higher amounts first, we can't say definitively how much they will be. When will I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement? AT&T expects that payments will start to go out sometime early next year, though exact dates aren't available right now. The final approval needs to be given at the Dec. 3 court hearing in order for payments to being made. Stay tuned to this piece in the coming months to get all the new details as they emerge, and for more money help, check out CNET's daily tariff price impact tracker.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AT&T's $177-million data breach settlement wins US court approval
By Mike Scarcella and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge granted preliminary approval on Friday to a $177-million settlement that resolves lawsuits against AT&T over breaches in 2024 that exposed personal information belonging to tens of millions of the telecom company's customers. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas said in a ruling that the class-action settlement was fair and reasonable. The deal resolves claims over data breaches that AT&T announced in May and July last year. Depending on which breach is involved, AT&T has agreed to pay up to $2,500 or $5,000 to customers who suffered losses that are "fairly traceable" to the incidents. After payments are made for direct losses, the remaining funds will be distributed to customers whose personal information was accessed. AT&T said it denied allegations it was "responsible for these criminal acts." "We have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation." AT&T said it expects the settlement will be approved by the end of 2025, with settlement payments to be issued early next year. One of the incidents resulted in the illegal downloading of about 109 million customer accounts at the U.S. wireless company. AT&T disclosed that its call logs were copied from its workspace on a Snowflake cloud platform covering about six months of customer call and text data from 2022 from nearly all its customers. In March 2024, AT&T said it was investigating a data set released on the "dark web" and said its preliminary analysis showed it affected approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. The company said the data set appeared to be from 2019 or earlier. The Federal Communications Commission is also investigating. In September, AT&T agreed to pay $13 million to resolve an FCC investigation over a data breach of a cloud vendor in January 2023 that impacted 8.9 million AT&T wireless customers. The FCC said the data exposed in 2023 covered customers from 2015 through 2017 that should have been deleted in 2017 or 2018.
