Elon Musk Blames Cyberattack for X Outage, Suggests Possible Nation-State Involvement

On March 10, 2025, the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) experienced significant service disruptions attributed to a massive cyberattack. Elon Musk, the owner of X, initially described the incident as a “massive cyberattack” potentially orchestrated by “a large, coordinated group and/or a country.”

Claims of Responsibility

Shortly after the disruptions, a pro-Palestinian hacker group known as “The Dark Storm Team” claimed responsibility for the attack. This group has been active since late 2023, targeting entities perceived to support Israel. Their methods primarily involve Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, aiming to overwhelm servers and render services inaccessible.

Technical Analysis

Cybersecurity experts analyzed the incident and identified it as a DDoS attack executed by a botnet. The attack led to significant traffic loss, hindering user access to X’s services. Further investigation revealed that some of X’s origin servers were not adequately secured behind Cloudflare’s DDoS protection, making them vulnerable to direct targeting. X has since addressed these security lapses to prevent future occurrences.

Official Investigations

U.S. officials have initiated investigations to determine the source of the cyberattack. As of now, no specific intelligence has been disclosed regarding the perpetrators. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities examining various leads to identify those responsible.

Implications and Responses

This incident underscores the vulnerabilities of major social media platforms to sophisticated cyberattacks. It highlights the necessity for robust cybersecurity measures and continuous monitoring to safeguard against such threats. Users are advised to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities encountered on these platforms.