California consumers can claim up to $7,500 in AT&T data breach settlement

Last Updated on August 17, 2025 by The HD Post Staff

CALIFORNIA – Consumers nationwide – including in California, have until November 18, 2025 to claim up to $7,500 total in a settlement with AT&T for two separate data breaches.

The lawsuit claims AT&T collected sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders while promising to keep it secure.

AT&T also promised that data would be deleted when no longer needed.

“Yet AT&T failed to secure Plaintiffs’ data, failed to timely delete this data for tens of millions of former AT&T customers, and, when the data was breached, failed to promptly notify the millions of current and former customers of that breach so that they could seek to protect themselves,” according to court documents.

The settlement covers lawsuits concerning two data breaches that occurred in 2019 and 2022.

Hacker accessed personal information

In 2019, a third-party hacker accessed sensitive PII –including names, addresses, phone numbers, SSNs, account numbers, and passcodes, affecting millions of current and former customers.

The data circulated on the Dark Web for years before AT&T disclosed it on March 30, 2024, forcing customers to reset passcodes.

According to court documents, AT&T had longstanding cybersecurity weaknesses, failed to monitor systems or vendors, delayed investigations, and ignored proper data retention/deletion practices.

This violated privacy regulations and prior FCC orders.

Victims suffered identity theft, fraudulent account activity, credit damage, spam, and out-of-pocket expenses from monitoring accounts.

While addressing the 2019 breach, AT&T experienced a second breach in 2022-2023, illegally exposing data of nearly all cellular and some landline customers via the third-party cloud platform Snowflake, Inc.

The company publicly acknowledged the data breach on July 12, 2024.

Eligibility

Lawsuits were filed nationwide and consolidated into a $177 million class-action settlement. AT&T agreed to a settlement without admitting wrongdoing.

AT&T 1 Class: U.S. residents affected by the March 2024 breach.
AT&T 2 Class: Account owners or users impacted by the July 2024 breach.
Overlap Class: Those affected by both breaches can claim benefits for each, but must provide separate proof of loss.

Settlement benefits

AT&T 1 Class: Up to $5,000 for documented losses or receive tiered cash payments if they cannot provide documentation.
AT&T 2 Class: Up to $2,500 for documented losses or receive a Tier 3 cash payment as an alternative.
Those affected by both breaches can claim up to $7,500 with proof of loss, such as fraudulent charges or identity theft.

Consumers must submit claims by November 18, 2025, or opt out of the class action by October 17, 2025. The final court hearing is December 2, 2025.

For more information visit https://www.telecomdatasettlement.com/