An Iranian hacking collective identified as APT IRAN announced on Thursday that it was responsible for a recent internet service disruption that affected thousands of customers in North Texas. AT&T, the primary telecommunications provider in the region, responded by stating that the allegation is untrue and that the company had no involvement in the outage.
The outage, reported earlier on Thursday, caused loss of connectivity for residential and business users across several counties in North Texas. Service monitors recorded a sudden drop in network traffic, and customers reported inability to access broadband, email and other online services. The interruption lasted several hours before service was gradually restored.
In a message released by the group, APT IRAN linked the attack to a series of escalating cyber actions it said were being carried out in the weeks leading up to the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The claim positions the outage as part of a broader campaign timed to coincide with that commemorative date.
AT&T officials rejected the claim, emphasizing that internal investigations had found no evidence of a breach or external interference that could be attributed to the Iranian group. The company reiterated that its network remained secure and that any disruption was the result of technical issues unrelated to malicious activity.
The incident adds to a pattern of public statements by state‑linked hacking groups that seek to associate their operations with high‑profile dates. While the outage was limited to a regional segment of the network, the competing narratives from APT IRAN and AT&T illustrate the challenges of attributing cyber‑related service failures in real time.