A hacker group known as Dark Storm is claiming responsibility for a widespread outage that affected X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The outage, which occurred Monday, left tens of thousands of users unable to access their accounts, post updates, or view content. X owner Elon Musk confirmed what he described as a “massive cyberattack against X,” adding that his team is actively investigating the breach.
According to multiple reports, Dark Storm took credit for the attack in an encrypted message circulating on underground hacker forums. The group, which has been linked to previous cyber disruptions, claims the attack was a deliberate attempt to expose vulnerabilities in X’s security infrastructure. While Musk has not directly commented on Dark Storm’s involvement, he acknowledged that the attack was unprecedented in scale and that his cybersecurity team is working to prevent further breaches.
Downdetector, a service that tracks real-time outages, reported tens of thousands of user complaints during the peak of the disruption. Many users were unable to refresh their feeds, log in, or engage with content. The outage lasted for several hours before partial service was restored, though some users continue to report sporadic issues.
Dark Storm has been associated with several high-profile cyber incidents in recent years, often targeting major tech companies and government agencies. The group is known for using sophisticated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which overwhelm a platform’s servers with massive amounts of traffic, effectively rendering it inoperable. Cybersecurity analysts are now examining whether the attack on X was purely a DDoS strike or if sensitive data was compromised in the process.
Musk’s leadership of X has faced scrutiny since he acquired the platform, with critics arguing that cost-cutting measures, including layoffs in the cybersecurity division, may have left the company more vulnerable to cyber threats. The billionaire entrepreneur has repeatedly emphasized the importance of making X a “digital town square,” but this latest attack raises questions about the platform’s ability to withstand coordinated cyber threats.
Government agencies and cybersecurity firms are closely monitoring the situation, with some officials warning that such attacks could be part of a broader campaign targeting critical digital infrastructure. If Dark Storm is indeed responsible, authorities may attempt to track down its members, though the group has remained elusive in past investigations.
As X works to restore full functionality and secure its systems, users are being advised to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity. The full extent of the cyberattack’s impact remains unclear, but the incident underscores the growing threats faced by major social media platforms in an era of increasing digital warfare.
