Late on Thursday, AT&T clarified that the outage causing disruptions in calls and text messages for thousands of U.S. users, which prompted federal investigations, was not the result of a cyberattack.
After restoring wireless service for all affected customers, the carrier explained that the outage stemmed from an incorrect process applied during network expansion, rather than a malicious cyber incident.
The outage, which peaked with over 70,000 users affected, persisted for more than 10 hours, impacting AT&T's extensive 5G network covering approximately 290 million people across the United States.
In response to the incident, AT&T assured customers of measures to prevent such disruptions in the future. Federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), initiated investigations into the matter.
White House spokesperson John Kirby disclosed that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were also involved in examining the outage, emphasizing ongoing uncertainty about its root cause.
While AT&T refrained from commenting on the FCC's investigation, shares of the company experienced a decline, and outage incidents numbered around 3,255, according to Downdetector.com.
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, expressed doubts regarding malicious intent behind the outage, suggesting it likely resulted from a software issue rather than an attack.
The outage's impact extended to emergency services, with reports indicating difficulties in reaching 911, as noted by government departments on various social media platforms, including X.
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