AT&T Says Nationwide Outage Was Caused By A Software Error, Not Cyberattack

(RTTNews) - AT&T Inc. (T) customers across the U.S. experienced a temporary network disruption on Thursday due to a software update error, the company confirmed.

The outage, which affected services such as calls, texts, and internet access, was not the result of a cyberattack, according to AT&T. The company is conducting a thorough assessment to prevent similar issues in the future.

Following the outage, service was gradually restored throughout the day, with all impacted customers regaining connectivity by late afternoon. While AT&T acknowledged the widespread disruption, initially, the cause was not disclosed.

Wi-Fi calling was recommended as an alternative during the service interruption, with instructions provided for users to set it up on their devices. By late morning, most of AT&T's network had been restored, and full-service recovery was confirmed later in the day.

Despite speculation about a potential cyberattack, AT&T attributed the outage to an incorrect network expansion process. Industry sources indicated that the issue may have been related to the handling of call handoffs between networks, rather than malicious activity.

While the Federal Communications Commission is investigating the incident, the Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency stated to CNN that they are collaborating with AT&T to investigate the outage's cause and effects, and are prepared to provide any necessary assistance.