The AT&T $177 million settlement resolves two class action lawsuits over separate 2024 data breaches that together exposed information belonging to roughly 73 million current and former customers. A federal judge in Texas held the final approval hearing on January 15, 2026, but as of mid-2026 no ruling has issued and no payments have gone out. The claim filing window has also closed, so if you didn’t submit by December 18, 2025, you can’t file now.
Which Breach You Were In
Eligibility, payment caps, and what data was taken all depend on which of the two breaches affected you. AT&T disclosed them months apart.
The first breach came to light on March 30, 2024, when a data set from 2019 or earlier surfaced on the dark web. It contained names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, account passcodes, and billing account numbers. About 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders were affected.1ABC7. AT&T Data Breach $177 Million Settlement
The second breach, disclosed on July 12, 2024, involved call and text message records stolen from an AT&T workspace on the Snowflake cloud platform. The stolen records covered nearly all AT&T customers and included phone numbers, records of who customers called and texted, interaction counts, aggregate call durations, and for some users, cell site identification numbers that could reveal general location. The content of calls and texts was not taken, and neither were Social Security numbers or names. The compromised records spanned May 1 through October 31, 2022, plus a small subset from January 2, 2023.2Telecom Data Settlement. In Re AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Settlement3Mozilla Foundation. AT&T Had a Huge Data Breach
The class for the first breach includes all living U.S. residents whose personal information appeared in the leaked data. The class for the second breach includes AT&T account owners and line or end users whose telephone records were compromised, plus people whose phone numbers interacted with AT&T customers during the covered months.4Time. AT&T Data Breach Settlement How to File a Claim AT&T and its affiliates, the presiding judicial officers and their staff, and anyone who timely opted out are excluded.
What You Could Claim
The $177 million fund is split between the two breaches.
- The first breach fund holds $149 million. Claimants could seek up to $5,000 in documented losses dating from 2019 forward. Class members whose Social Security numbers were exposed (Tier 1) are eligible for five times the payment of those whose other personal data was exposed without a Social Security number (Tier 2).5CT Post. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Claims Filed
- The second breach fund holds $28 million. Claimants could seek up to $2,500 in documented losses occurring on or after April 14, 2024. Account owners were also eligible for a separate Tier 3 cash payment.1ABC7. AT&T Data Breach $177 Million Settlement6KOAT. AT&T Data Breach Settlement How to Claim Money
- Anyone affected by both breaches could file two claims and recover up to $7,500 combined.4Time. AT&T Data Breach Settlement How to File a Claim
The Claim Deadline Has Passed
The original filing deadline of November 18, 2025, was extended by court order to December 18, 2025.7Pensacola News Journal. Deadline AT&T Data Breach Settlement Application By December 30, 2025, roughly 4.38 million claims had been filed — about 4.8% of the estimated 99.7 million class members across both breaches.8Yahoo Finance. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Nearing Approval Late claims are not being accepted.
When Payments Go Out
No payout date has been set. Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held the final approval hearing on January 15, 2026, in the consolidated case In re AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation (MDL No. 3:24-md-03114-E). As of mid-2026, the docket shows no final approval order and no entries following the hearing.9U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. MDL 3:24-md-03114
Even after Judge Brown rules, payments cannot go out until the appeals window closes and the settlement administrator, Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, finishes reviewing all 4.38 million claims. No payment method has been announced.2Telecom Data Settlement. In Re AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Settlement10Newsweek. AT&T Settlement Update Payout Data Breach Lawsuit
Expect Less Than the Advertised Caps
The $5,000, $2,500, and $7,500 figures are ceilings, not typical payments. At the January 2026 hearing, plaintiffs’ attorneys acknowledged that actual payments will likely be much lower. Final amounts depend on how many people claimed, what documented losses each claimant proved, and what comes out of the fund before distribution.
Fees are the biggest deduction. Class counsel are seeking about $59 million in total attorney fees: $49.67 million from the first breach fund and $9.33 million from the second.11New Haven Register. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Attorney Fees Those fees, along with administration costs, come out of the $177 million before class members are paid.
What the Settlement Does Not Include
The deal is cash only. It does not provide credit monitoring or identity theft protection, and it does not require AT&T to change its security practices.2Telecom Data Settlement. In Re AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Settlement AT&T denied wrongdoing and agreed to settle to avoid what it called “the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation.”4Time. AT&T Data Breach Settlement How to File a Claim
This settlement is also separate from other AT&T litigation, including the ongoing Snowflake-related multidistrict case in Montana that names AT&T as a co-defendant alongside Snowflake.12U.S. District Court, District of Montana. Snowflake Data Security Breach Litigation Filing or receiving money in this settlement does not affect that case.