AT&T’s $177 million data breach settlement received preliminary court approval in June 2025 and had its final approval hearing on January 15, 2026, but as of mid-2026 the judge in the Northern District of Texas has not issued a final ruling, and no payments have been sent. The claim filing deadline passed on December 18, 2025. Late claim forms can still be downloaded from the settlement website and mailed in, though acceptance is not guaranteed.
What the Settlement Covers
The deal resolves consolidated class actions tied to two separate data breaches AT&T disclosed in 2024.
The first, announced March 30, 2024, involved a data set posted to the dark web containing names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account passcodes, billing account numbers, and Social Security numbers. AT&T said the data appeared to date from 2019 or earlier and affected about 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former customers.1AT&T. Addressing Data Set Released on Dark Web
The second, disclosed July 12, 2024, involved call and text records downloaded from an AT&T workspace on the Snowflake cloud platform. The stolen logs covered roughly May 1 through October 31, 2022, plus January 2, 2023, for some customers. They included the phone numbers customers called or texted, interaction counts, aggregate call durations, and in some cases cell-site identifiers that can indicate a user’s general location. Call and text content, names, and Social Security numbers were not included. The breach affected nearly all AT&T wireless customers, including people on mobile virtual network operators that use AT&T’s network and some landline customers.2Mozilla Foundation. AT&T Had a Huge Data Breach: Here’s What You Need to Know
The consolidated case is In Re: AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL No. 3:24-md-03114-E, before Judge Ada E. Brown. On May 30, 2025, the parties filed a global settlement creating two non-reversionary funds: $149 million for the March 2024 breach and $28 million for the July 2024 breach.3Reuters. $177 Million AT&T Data Breach Settlement Wins US Court Approval AT&T denied all fault and said it settled “to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation.”4KOAT. AT&T Data Breach Settlement: How to Claim Money
Who Qualifies
The settlement recognizes two classes and an overlap group for people whose information appeared in both incidents.5NBC Connecticut. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Deadline December 18
- The AT&T 1 class covers living U.S. residents whose personal data appeared in the March 2024 dark-web data set. Tier 1 is people whose Social Security numbers were exposed; Tier 2 is people whose other personal data was exposed but not their SSN.
- The AT&T 2 class covers AT&T account owners or authorized line users whose call and text metadata was stolen in the July 2024 breach, current and former customers included. Account owners can file on behalf of authorized users on their plans.
- The overlap class covers people affected by both incidents, who may file claims from both funds.
How Much You Can Get
Under the settlement terms, individual payouts are capped at up to $5,000 for the March 2024 breach, up to $2,500 for the July 2024 breach, and up to $7,500 total for people in both classes who file two separate claims with unique supporting documentation.6Time. AT&T Data Breach Settlement: How to File a Claim Those higher amounts are reserved for claimants who can document financial losses “fairly traceable” to the breaches. Remaining money is distributed pro rata to other eligible class members without proof of specific damages.7NBC DFW. AT&T Settlement Money Deadline Date: How to File
At the January 2026 final approval hearing, plaintiffs’ attorneys acknowledged that actual per-person payouts will likely fall well below those caps given the volume of claims.8New Haven Register. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Attorney Fees
Filing Deadline and Claims Status
Kroll Settlement Administration began mailing notices to class members in August 2025 with instructions for filing.9CPM Legal. CPM Announces Settlement of AT&T Data Breach Claims could be filed online at telecomdatasettlement.com or mailed to Kroll’s New York office. Filers needed a class member ID, email address, AT&T account number, or full name to verify eligibility, plus supporting documentation for any claimed losses.5NBC Connecticut. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Deadline December 18
The original November 18, 2025 deadline was extended by one month, to December 18, 2025.10KFOR. Deadlines for $177M AT&T Settlement Nearing The separate deadline to opt out of the class or object was extended from October 17 to November 17, 2025.11U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas. MDL 3:24-md-03114 As of December 30, 2025, roughly 4.38 million people had submitted claims, a 4.8% claims rate.12Yahoo Finance. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Nearing Approval
The settlement website still allows late claim forms to be downloaded and mailed, but there is no guarantee they will be accepted.
When Payments Could Arrive
Judge Brown granted preliminary approval on June 20, 2025.13Law360. AT&T Customers’ $177M Data Breach Deal Wins Initial OK The final approval hearing was moved from December 3, 2025 to January 15, 2026, and took place as rescheduled.14Clarion Ledger. How Much Money Can You Get From the AT&T Settlement As of mid-2026, no final approval order has been issued. The settlement website states there is no current timeline for a ruling, and Kroll continues reviewing submitted claims.15Telecom Data Settlement. AT&T Data Incident Settlement The most recent docket entry is from May 2026, indicating the case is still active.16CourtListener. In Re AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation
Three things have to happen before any money moves. The court has to grant final approval. The window for appeals has to run out. And Kroll has to finish reviewing every claim. An appeal after final approval would push payments back further.15Telecom Data Settlement. AT&T Data Incident Settlement
Other AT&T Actions You May Have Heard About
Two other AT&T matters sometimes get confused with this settlement, and neither is part of it.
In September 2024, AT&T and the Federal Communications Commission entered a consent decree over a January 2023 breach at a different third-party vendor that exposed data on about 8.9 million AT&T Mobility customers. AT&T agreed to pay a $13 million civil penalty, appoint a compliance officer, and implement a NIST-aligned information security program. That money is a government penalty, not a consumer payout.17FCC. AT&T Consent Decree
The Federal Trade Commission’s older case over throttled “unlimited” data plans is also separate. AT&T paid $60 million, with $52 million distributed to consumers in 2020 and another $6.3 million sent to former customers in April 2024.18FTC. AT&T Data Throttling Refunds Those refunds have nothing to do with the data breach settlement.