Massive Cyberattack Disrupts X: What You Need to Know

In a shocking turn of events, social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, faced a massive cyberattack on Monday. The hacking group Dark Storm Team has claimed responsibility for the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which led to multiple outages worldwide.

Initial Impact and Response

The attack began in the early hours of Monday, causing widespread disruption for users attempting to access the platform. X owner Elon Musk confirmed the cyberattack, stating that it was executed with significant resources. He speculated that either a large, coordinated group or a country could be behind the attack.

Hacktivist Group’s Claims

Dark Storm Team, a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group, launched in 3, and has previously targeted organizations in Israel, Europe, and the United States. The group posted on their Telegram channel, claiming responsibility for the DDoS attack and sharing screenshots of failed connection attempts from multiple global locations.

Outage Details

The outages affected users worldwide, with reports flooding Downdetector during the second outage. The current outage peaked at 29,143 reports and is now slightly declining. Users experienced issues logging onto the platform, with many receiving error messages.

Mitigation Efforts

In response to the attack, X enabled DDoS protections from Cloudflare. The help.x.com section of the site currently displays a Cloudflare captcha for all requests, as suspicious IP addresses are flagged when a single IP address generates too many requests.

Elon Musk’s Reaction

Elon Musk took to X to share his thoughts on the outages, suggesting that the attack was an attempt to silence him. He mentioned that X gets attacked every day, but this particular attack was executed with a lot of resources.

Dark Storm Team’s Capabilities

The Dark Storm Team has demonstrated their ability to disrupt massive technology platforms using botnets and other resources. In 2024, the United States indicted two Sudanese brothers for the suspected operation of the Anonymous Sudan hacktivist group, which successfully took down the websites and APIs of some of the largest technology firms, including Cloudflare, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

Current Status and Future Implications

As the situation develops, users are advised to stay updated on the latest news regarding X’s outages and the ongoing cyberattack. The platform is showing signs of recovery, but the service remains intermittent, particularly on the iOS app.

Conclusion

The massive cyberattack on X has highlighted the vulnerability of even the most prominent social media platforms to coordinated attacks. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, it is crucial for organizations to remain vigilant and invest in robust protection measures to safeguard their systems and users.

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