AT&T apologizes for massive system failure that left customers without service for hours: Live

AT&T is saying that 75 per cent of its network has been restored.

“Our network teams took immediate action and so far three-quarters of our network has been restored,” the company said. “We are working as quickly as possible to restore service to remaining customers.”

According to CNN, John Kirby, a National Security spokesman, said the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are looking into the Thursday incident and contacting partners to “see what we can do from a federal perspective to lend a hand to their investigative efforts to figure out what happened there.”

Still, he said, officials are unsure about what caused the widespread outage.

“The bottom line is we don’t have all the answers to that. I mean, this just happened earlier today. And so we’re working very hard to see if we can get to the ground truth of exactly what happened.”

“Today’s cell service outage is another example of the critical need to keep AM radio in cars,” the association said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter. “When the internet is out, power lines are down and cellphones can’t find a signal, AM radio is there, providing reliable life-saving alerts & updates.”

Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, told NBC News that the most likely cause of the outage is “cloud misconfiguration” or human error.

“A possible but far less likely outcome is an intentional malicious hack of ATT’s network, but the diffuse pattern of outages across the country suggests something more fundamental,” he said.

“We are aware of the reported wireless outages, and our Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is actively investigating,” an FCC spokesperson said.

“We are in touch with AT&T and public safety authorities, including FirstNet, as well as other providers.”

The website that tracks self-reported outages is reporting a significantly lower amount of disruptions across the country.

According to the latest numbers, just about 7,000 people continue to experience outages. Still, the site is not meant to offer a comprehensive look of the ongoing situation.

Residents in four Texas cities and other cities in the Midwest and on the east coast reported the most amount of service disruptions, according to Downdetector, a website that tracks that information.

Impacted people lived in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin. Meanwhile, other residents who struggled to get cell service were mainly in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Miami and Indianapolis.

“CISA is aware of the reports and we are working closely with AT&T to understand the cause of the outage and its impacts, and stand ready to offer any assistance needed,” The agency’s Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, Eric Goldstein, said in a statement.

“Some of you may not have cell phone service this morning,” Mr DeSantis said while speaking to a crowd about the work of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District on Thursday.

“You think about your daily life like…honestly it’s like imagine if we had an EMP attack or something like what would end up happening in this country,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a good thought.”