Elon Musk blames Ukraine as X suffers major hack affecting users across 3 continents

Popular social media platform X (formerly Twitter) experienced a global outage on Monday after several users experienced difficulty in accessing the app. According to Downdetector, reports started early Monday, with more than 40,000 users in Asia, Europe, and North America saying they could not access the platform. 

The owner, Elon Musk, who tagged the outage as a cyberattack, pointed fingers at Ukraine for the incident. He suggested that a “large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved” in the “massive” hack, in a series of posts on X.

“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing …” he wrote.

In an interview on Fox News, Musk noted that the hackers had “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.”

Check Point Research (CPR), a cyber threat research team pointed out that The Dark Storm Team, a pro-Palestinian cyberattack group known for launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, has resurfaced after inactivity. The group primarily targets Western entities, including those in the United States, Ukraine, the UAE, and Israel.

According to a Newsweek report, at least three X outages took place due to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on Monday, which use bots to shut down devices or networks by overwhelming them with traffic.

Over the past month, the Dark Storm Team has successfully attacked critical infrastructure, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Haifa Port in Israel, and the UAE’s Ministry of Defense. 

It also noted that the hacking group Dark Storm Team has claimed responsibility for Monday’s hack on X. The group, formed in 2023 which has a pro-Palestinian focus, is known for its sophisticated cyber warfare attacks and successful hacks of high-security systems.

Last month, the group vowed in a post to unleash a wave of cyberattacks on the government websites of NATO countries, Israel, and nations supporting Israel. In February alone, U.S. organizations faced an average of 1,323 cyberattacks per week, with the Media & Entertainment sector being the fourth most targeted.

CPR also highlighted the group’s role in destabilizing digital platforms, including the recent assault on X, underscoring the need for enhanced cybersecurity for social media platforms, vital to global communication.

Similar Read: Elon Musk blames racism for Starlink’s regulatory woes in South Africa

Musk’s claim on X attack

After the social media platform appeared to have gained restoration, Elon Musk pointed out that the attack on X was an attempt to silence him. 

In response to Musk’s post about the “massive cyberattack against X” Hassan Sajwani posted that, “They want to silence you and this platform.” Musk replied saying “Yes”.

After Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022, the majority of employees left or were fired which raised concerns about whether staffing was in place to keep the platform safe and stable.

Since acquiring the platform with the stated intention of promoting free speech, Musk has faced criticism for slashing content moderation teams. Under his ownership, the platform has also experienced technical issues and reinstated accounts of right-wing conspiracy theorists and Trump.

Advocacy groups say misinformation has been spread on X under Musk, who has come under fire for spreading it to his huge online audience.

On another end, Musk has recently been facing heavy domestic criticism tied to his role in a push by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to enact major government cost-cutting measures and mass firings of federal workers at the direction of President Donald Trump.

Trump responded last week to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire advisor Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted. “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,‘” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.

The president’s message represents the first significant move to rein in the power accorded to Musk, as DOGE works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.

DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers. Trump confirmed that he had convened his cabinet to deliver the message that they, not Musk, were in charge of their departments.