Elon Musk revealed on Monday that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, was struck by a major cyberattack, raising questions about whether the politically divisive billionaire is being targeted or if his staffing cuts at the company are taking a toll on its stability.
Users in Asia, Europe, and North America began reporting issues accessing X early on Monday, with outages tracked by Downdetector. Musk later confirmed the attack in a post, stating, “There was (and still is) a massive cyberattack against X.” By the end of the day, the platform was functioning intermittently.
Musk has previously blamed cyberattacks for site issues, including one last year when X crashed while preparing to stream an interview with former President Donald Trump.
In his Monday post, Musk referenced a post by the DogeDesigner account, which some Reddit users speculated could be Musk himself in disguise. The post mentioned protests against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump had entrusted to Musk, and vandalism at Tesla locations, suggesting that the cyberattack could be linked to rising hostility towards Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla.
“It would take a lot of money to do an attack of this magnitude,” a post from the Jammies account on X read. “Who has the resources to fund this?”
Musk speculated that such an attack would require significant resources, suggesting it could have been carried out by a nation-state or a large, coordinated group.
Cybersecurity experts have noted that, without insight into X’s internal operations, it’s difficult to fully assess the nature of the attack, but the prolonged outages suggest it could be a targeted cyberstrike. “It’s cyberwar hitting at full force,” said Chad Cragle, a cybersecurity expert at Deepwatch. “With Musk in the spotlight and political tensions at a peak, these attacks bear all the indicators of nation-state aggression.”
The attack comes amid growing political tensions surrounding Musk. Last week, former President Trump responded to criticism of Musk’s cuts to U.S. government staffing, suggesting that the reductions should be “carefully targeted.” Trump also made clear that his cabinet, not Musk, would be in charge of the federal departments.
The cyberattack left tens of thousands of users unable to access X, with over 40,000 outage reports at its peak, according to Downdetector. Some users expressed frustration, with one post on the tracker asking, “Twitter keeps breaking?”
Since Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022, the platform has experienced ongoing technical issues, with many employees leaving or being fired, raising concerns about the platform’s security. Musk’s decision to slash content moderation teams and promote free speech has led to criticism that misinformation has flourished on X, with Musk himself facing backlash for amplifying falsehoods to his large online audience.
This latest cyberattack raises further questions about the platform’s future and the consequences of Musk’s leadership style.
AFP
