"According to sources, AT&T allegedly paid a substantial ransom of around $400,000 to hackers who claimed to have accessed sensitive customer data, including call and text records. The hackers reportedly received the payment in Bitcoin in mid-May, as confirmed by transaction records. While the payment's exact nature and whether it was made directly or through an intermediary remain unclear, a source familiar with ransomware negotiations has corroborated that AT&T did pay the hackers to delete the stolen databases."