MOHAMMAD ZIYAUDDIN
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Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) suffered three major outages in a single day, with disruptions extending from Monday into Tuesday morning. A hacking group called ‘Dark Storm Team’ has allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack on the platform.
Hackers Claim Responsibility
In a Telegram post, the group declared that they were “taking Twitter offline”.
Responding to user concerns, Elon Musk acknowledged the issue in a post 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. Tracing."
This is not the first time X has experienced technical failures, but this time, the impact lasted longer than previous disruptions.
Who Is the ‘Dark Storm Team’?
The Dark Storm Team is a hacking collective founded in 2023, known for its advanced cyber warfare tactics and attacks on high-security systems.
According to cybersecurity firm Orange Cyberdefense, the group:
- Operates with a pro-Palestinian agenda.
- Has threatened to attack government websites of NATO countries, Israel, and nations supporting Israel.
- Claims responsibility for taking X offline by overwhelming its servers with traffic.
On Monday, they shared a screenshot of X’s connectivity status page, showing failed connection attempts worldwide—suggesting a large-scale attack.
X Faces Hours of Disruptions
Outage tracking website Downdetector reported:
10 a.m. ET: 39,021 users in the U.S. were unable to access X at the peak of the outage.
5 p.m. ET: Reports showed roughly 1,500 users still experiencing issues.
An industry source revealed that X was hit by several waves of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, starting around 9:45 UTC.
How DDoS Attacks Work
A DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack overwhelms a website or service with excessive traffic, causing it to slow down or crash.
While these attacks are not always complex, they can lead to massive disruptions—as seen in this case with X.
What’s Next for X?
As investigations continue, X’s security teams will work to trace the source of the attack. Given Musk’s statement about possible involvement of a country, this cyberattack could escalate into a larger issue of digital security and geopolitics.
For now, X has restored access, but cybersecurity experts warn that more attacks could follow.
