AT&T data breach settlement gets final approval: How much will customers get?

article A judge has granted final approval to settle a class-action lawsuit filed against AT&T over two major data breaches. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) The Brief Millions of AT&T customers are now eligible for payments to settle a class-action lawsuit filed over two major data breaches.Some AT&T customers could get up to $5,000 in the settlement, though lawyers concede that number will likely be much lower. A judge has granted final approval to settle a class-action lawsuit filed against AT&T over two major data breaches. According to the settlement website, AT&T customers who joined the class action will get their share of $177 million. Here’s what to know:  How much will customers get?  By the numbers: According to court documents, the $177 million settlement is broken up into two classes – $149 million for the first and $28 million for the second.  AT&T customers in the first settlement class (AT&T 1) could get a documented-loss payment of up to $5,000 or a tiered cash payment. Customers in the second class (AT&T 2) could get a documented-loss payment of up to $2,500 or a tiered cash payment. Lawyers, however, stipulated that the actual cash payments would likely be much lower.  Here’s what they estimated the tiered payments to be: AT&T 1, Tier 1 - $39 to $40AT&T 2, Tier 2 -$7.50 to $8.10AT&T 2, Tier 3 - $6.50 to $7.10 As of Aug. 24, nearly 5 million claim forms had been submitted, according to USA Today.  When will the AT&T settlement payments go out?  Timeline: There’s no specific timeline yet on when the payments will go out. According to the settlement website, payments will be held until the deadline for appeals has passed and all claim forms have been reviewed.  MORE: DoorDash customer info accessed in data breach, company says The deadline has passed for customers to join the settlement class.  AT&T data breaches The backstory: AT&T reported two separate data breaches in 2024 – the first one resulting in the illegal downloading of about 109 million customer accounts. AT&T said hackers copied call logs from its workspace on a Snowflake cloud platform. The breach covered about six months of customer call and text data from 2022 and affected nearly all of its customers.  RELATED: Data breach exposed tens of millions of US drivers' licenses, report says In March 2024, AT&T said it was investigating a data set released on the "dark web" impacting about 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. What they're saying: AT&T has previously denied wrongdoing.  RELATED: Petco data breach: Application setting ‘inadvertently’ shared personal information online "We have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation," AT&T said in a statement last year. The company added it’s "committed to protecting our customers’ data and ensuring their continued trust in us." The Source: This article includes comments from AT&T, along with information from the AT&T data breach settlement website, USA Today and previous FOX Local reporting. FOX's Catherine Stoddard contributed.  Data BreachesBusinessMoneyConsumer