AT&T apologizes for outage although a cyber attack has not yet been definitively ruled out،
There's no doubt that the big news of the day was the outage that knocked AT&T out of service early Thursday morning. MVNO subscribers using AT&T's network to provide services, like Cricket, also found themselves facing the Great Wireless Network Outage of 2024. While Verizon and T-Mobile said their networks were up and running 'were never off, the pair's subscribers were unable to connect to friends and family using AT&T. This gave the illusion that the three major carriers were absent.
Consumers were so concerned about not being able to call 911 that a police department was flooded with calls from people dialing just to see if they could get in touch with the police. And in the back of everyone's minds was the fear that a cyberattack had triggered the incident. Some local governments faced disruptions due to the AT&T outage, and the New York Police Department said they could not make calls or read emails on AT&T-connected handsets unless they are not connected to a Wi-Fi signal.
AT&T released an update early this evening in which he stated: “Based on our initial review, we believe that today's outage was caused by the application and execution of an incorrect process used during the expansion of our network , and not by a cyberattack. We are continuing our evaluation of today's outage to ensure we continue to provide the service our customers deserve. »
AT&T subscribers were unable to connect to the carrier's network until this afternoon
Although AT&T's statement appears to rule out the possibility that the outage was caused by a cyberattack, we wouldn't say that AT&T's dismissal of this possibility is a very strong statement. The FCC issued its own statement Thursday afternoon and said: “We are aware of the reported wireless network outages, and our Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security is actively investigating. We are in contact with AT&T and public safety authorities, including FirstNet, as well as other providers.”
The FBI said it was in contact with AT&T and that “if we learn of any malicious activity, we will respond accordingly,” the G-men said. And White House National Security spokesman John Kirby also chipped in. As for the cause of the outage, Kirby said, “Ultimately, we don't have all the answers to that question. So we're working very hard to see if we can find out the truth about what exactly happened. “
An industry official said
CNN that the problem was related to the process known as peering, or how calls are transferred from one network to another. Still, many concerns remain that a cyberattack was the cause of today's outage. It may be several days before U.S. security officials can absolutely and definitively rule out this possibility.
The outage also sent AT&T shares lower Thursday, with the stock falling 41 cents, or 2.41 percent, to $16.59, even as the rest of the market hit new highs.
It was an unsettling start to the day and shows just how important a connected smartphone has become to our way of life.
