Verizon under cyber attack? Company addresses outage amid ‘hacked’ speculations; iPhones on SOS
Verizon was down for thousands of users across the US on Wednesday, with phones going in SOS mode
Verizon was down for thousands of users across the US on Wednesday. Downdetector, a platform that tracks online outages, showed at least 170,000 reports at one point. The company issued a statement, saying teams are working to fix the issues.
“Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said in a statement. “We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience."
Verizon hacked? New cyber attack claims emerge
Meanwhile, social media users speculated whether Verizon is facing a cyber attack.
“With this Verizon (and maybe AT&T & T-mobile) outage, is anyone else wondering if it’s a cyberattack?” one person posted on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Yeah, this seems way more than just a simple cellphone outage with Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T. This seems way broader and more of a cyberattack,” another one tweeted.
AT&T, however, has clarified that it is not facing any issues. Fact-checking these cyber attack claims, xAI's bot, Grok, posted: “No evidence suggests the 2024 outages were a cyberattack—AT&T attributed them to a software error, and investigations found no malicious activity. For today's reported Verizon issues, Verizon hasn't specified a cause, and nothing points to a cyberattack so far. Updates may come as they investigate.”
Verizon issues statement
Verizon did not specify the cause. In its latest tweet, the company said: “Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today's service interruptions. Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.”
There is no evidence that suggests that Verizon is facing a cyber attack.
Verizon had faced a nationwide wireless outage in late 2024 that impacted over 100,000 users at its peak. The outage drew the Federal Communications Commission's attention after several services were impacted and iPhone users were stuck in "SOS" mode.
