Purported Culprits Claim Responsibility as Elon Musk's X Is Hit by a Massive Cyberattack
Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, stated on Monday that the site was hit by a large-scale cyberattack, with the IP addresses involved tracing back to the Ukraine region.
Additionally, Newsweek reported that the pro-Palestinian hacker group Dark Storm Team claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The group is known for primarily targeting countries and entities that support Israel’s attack on Gaza following Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, 2023,” the outlet stated. “According to Orange Cyberdefense, Dark Storm Team has unconfirmed but ‘highly’ likely links to Russia and ‘strong partnerships with other groups.’”
During an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Monday afternoon, Musk said, “We’re not sure exactly what happened, but there was a massive cyber attack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.”
Earlier in the day, Musk posted on X, “There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 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.”
According to Sky News, reports of outages on X began surfacing Monday morning.
“A source in the internet infrastructure industry told the Reuters news agency that the platform had been hit by several waves of denial of service (DoS) attacks at around 9.45am” United Kingdom time, the outlet reported.
“According to the National Cyber Security Centre, DoS attacks are attempts to overload a website or network – aiming to degrade its performance or make it completely inaccessible. Such attacks are not necessarily sophisticated but they can cause significant disruption,” Sky News explained.
Musk, who acquired the platform—formerly known as Twitter—in 2022, proudly declared on Monday, “This platform is the top source for news on Earth.”
Beyond the cyberattack on X, Tesla properties—including showrooms, charging stations, and vehicles—have been increasingly targeted by vandals. This backlash appears to be linked to Musk’s collaboration with the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been implementing widespread cuts to federal spending and jobs. Musk serves as the CEO of the electric vehicle company.
On Sunday, Musk took to X to express gratitude, writing, “Heartfelt thanks to everyone supporting @Tesla, despite many attacks against our stores and offices.”