Elon Musk says that X has been targeted by a ‘massive cyberattack’ Monday.
The statement came after the platform has been down for users worldwide as people have cited issues with the app and website since as early as 5:30am ET.
Musk shared on X that the hack involves so many resources that he believes it could only be the work of a ‘coordinated group’ or a foreign country.
His suspicions were apparently confirmed after the group Dark Storm Team took credit for the attack, according to post on X Monday afternoon.
Cybersecurity group SpyoSecure claimed that they spoke to the leader of Dark Storm Team, who revealed that they initiated a DDOS attack on X.
A DDOS attack is essentially a traffic jam on the internet, caused on purpose to shut websites down.
A hacker sends thousands or even millions of fake visitors (bots) to flood the site. The site gets so overwhelmed that it slows down or completely crashes, making it impossible for real users to get onto X.
Many users have been left unable to log in to their accounts, while others reported the site will not load to shows posts.
Those already logged in on the app and website have been presented with the message: ‘Something went wrong, try reloading.’
X user SpyoSecure posted Monday afternoon that Dark Storm Team had taken credit for the attack on X that shut the site down
Elon Musk says that X has been targeted by a ‘massive cyberattack’ Monday. The statement came after the platform has been down for users worldwide as people have cited issues with the app and website since as early as 5:30am ET
Downdetector, a site that monitors online problems, shows more than 40,000 users issued outage reports around 10am ET.
Musk’s statement was a reply to a post from X user ‘DogeDesigner’ who wrote ‘First, protests against DOGE. Then, Tesla stores were attacked. Now, X is down.’
‘I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that this downtime is the result of an attack on X.’
Another X user commented on DogeDesigner’s post saying, ‘They want to silence you and this platform,’ which which the billionaire said, ‘Yes.’
Downdetector shows 58 percent of users cited problems with the app, 31 percent said the website is down and 11 percent cited server connection.
And the site’s outage map shows issues are being reported nationwide.
Who is behind the ‘cyberattack’ is not known, but Musk has pushed himself into the political spotlight by joining forces with President Donald Trump.
He also heads the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has laid off thousands of US government employees and shut down federal programs in a matter of weeks of the inauguration.
Musk’s Tesla stores have also become a target of attacks and protests recently.
On Saturday, a fired-up crowd formed outside Tesla stores across the country on Saturday afternoon to protest against Musk’s efforts to slash government spending and enact reforms.
Roughly 250 activists were gathered outside a showroom in New York City, holding anti-Musk placards that read ‘Block Facism Now and ‘Musk Must Go’ as they shouted ‘Elon Musk is not elected! Democracy must be protected!’
Musk’s Tesla stores have also become a target of attacks and protests recently Roughly 250 demonstrators were gathered outside a showroom in New York City on Saturday afternoon
Five protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct at the Manhattan demonstration and one was taken into custody for resisting arrest, obstruction and violation of local law, The New York Daily News reported.
There have also been more than a dozen acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to police and local reports.
A Tesla showroom in Salem, Oregon, was shot at with an AR 15-style rifle in February. Suspected vandal Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, is also accused of causing major damage at the same store with molotov cocktails in January.
Similarly, four Tesla Cybertrucks were set ablaze overnight at a storage lot in Seattle’s industrial SoDo neighborhood, KING-TV reported.
Officials say at least two vehicles were severely damaged in the fire. Seattle police are investigating if the blaze was an act of arson.
As for the ‘cyberattack’ on X, Musk has previously blamed issues with the platform on shadowy criminals.
In August 2024, he interviewed then presidential candidate Trump on the platform. The conversation started 42 minutes late, which Musk said was ‘probably’ an attack.
‘Given the prominence of this conversation, there was of course a 100% probability of DDOS attacks,’ Must posted.
DDOS stands for ‘distributed denial-of-service,’ which happens when servers are overwhelmed with fake traffic in order to knock out service.
