International: Massive Cyberattack Hits X – Musk Points to Ukraine Link
Widespread Disruptions Across Continents
A massive cyberattack on X (formerly Twitter) caused widespread outages across Asia, Europe, and North America on Monday. Users reported prolonged access issues, with outage tracking site Downdetector confirming peak disruptions affecting over 40,000 users.
Musk Alleges Ukraine Connection
Elon Musk, in an interview with Fox News, claimed that the attack had digital traces linked to Ukraine. “We’re not exactly sure what happened, but IP addresses tied to the Ukraine area were involved,” Musk stated. However, cybersecurity experts caution that IP-based attribution is unreliable as attackers can mask their locations.
Speculation of a Coordinated Attack
Musk suggested that the attack required “tremendous resources”, hinting at the involvement of a nation-state or a well-coordinated group. He also reposted a claim from an X account named DogeDesigner, suggesting the attack was part of a larger campaign against him, coinciding with protests against his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and reported acts of vandalism at Tesla facilities.
X Struggles with Technical Stability
Since Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, the platform has faced frequent technical issues, worsened by major workforce reductions. Critics argue that Musk’s policies, including reinstating banned accounts, have drawn controversy and made X more vulnerable to cyber threats.
Ongoing Recovery Efforts
As engineers worked to restore services, users continued to face intermittent connectivity problems throughout the day. X has yet to provide a full technical explanation or confirm whether the attack was indeed state-sponsored.