Reports of outages spiked on Monday, leaving thousands unable to access the platform. The outage left many users frustrated, as they were unable to use the platform to communicate, stay updated with the latest news, or conduct business activities. It was observed that some individuals were able to get partial access to the platform, whereas others were completely locked out of their accounts. The lack of immediate clarification from X led to confusion among users. Many users took to other platforms like Reddit and Telegram to express their frustration, with some speculating whether X had been hacked or if it was just another technical failure. Businesses that rely on X for customer engagement, advertising, and real-time updates faced temporary setbacks, with some companies reporting losses in ad revenue due to the downtime. Some influencers and social media managers, whose work depends on real-time posting and audience engagement, voiced concerns about the platform’s reliability.
Musk claimed that the cyberattack resulted from a large, coordinated group or a country’s involvement. During an interview on Fox Business Network, he pointed out that the IP addresses originated in Ukraine. Kevin Beaumont, a security researcher, disputed Musk’s claim, stating that the attack came from worldwide IPs, not just Ukraine. The culprit was identified as a Mirai botnet, a type of malware that is relatively easy to create and deploy, which infects internet-connected devices. It is mainly known for hijacking linked devices such as routers and cameras, turning them into a network of bots to launch large-scale attacks. Another expert, Allan Liska, explained that even if the attacks appeared to originate from Ukraine, the machines there were likely compromised and controlled remotely, allowing attackers to disguise their actual location. Large-scale cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, with hackers often using botnets like Mirai to launch attacks on critical infrastructure, companies, and even government agencies. The ability to manipulate the origin of an attack makes attribution difficult, which is why experts caution against jumping to conclusions without concrete evidence. Using an outage detector, Downdetector.com reported a drastic surge in complaints within a short period. Reports of X being down started early in the morning, with issues peaking at 10 a.m. and continuing until noon. About 56% of the issues were on the app, while 33% affected the website.
Cybersecurity experts pointed out that without technical data from X, it would be difficult to determine whether the situation was a cyberattack or a technical failure on X’s part. They also stated that major platforms like X are frequent targets for hackers, making such events unsurprising to some users. Since Musk’s acquisition of X, the company has undergone multiple cost-cutting measures, which could have contributed to such issues, leading to weak defenses on the platform and increasing vulnerability. The reduced workforce may have also resulted in a slower response to the outage. Compared to other major platforms like Facebook and Instagram, X has seen a noticeable increase in security incidents and downtime. Some industry analysts speculate that if security breaches and outages continue, users and advertisers may start shifting to more stable platforms. Reese argued that if the attack was conducted by a state, temporary disruptions like these wouldn’t align with typical warfare strategies, which are usually more disruptive. The outage could have been a test or a warning for something larger. Some experts believe that cyber warfare is evolving, with state-sponsored attackers potentially probing vulnerabilities in widely used platforms before executing more severe attacks. While there is no confirmation that this was a state-sponsored event, the possibility highlights the growing importance of cybersecurity measures for social media giants.
X has had similar outages in the past. In March 2023, a similar glitch caused widespread issues, raising concerns about the platform’s stability. Given X’s history of technical troubles, this could have been another internal system failure rather than an external attack. These ongoing issues may push business owners and advertisers, who depend on X for their marketing strategies, to reconsider their reliance on the platform if such problems persist. The lack of transparency from X regarding security improvements further raises concerns about whether the company is taking necessary precautions to prevent future incidents. However, the true cause of the disruption remans unclear…..
Musk claimed that the cyberattack resulted from a large, coordinated group or a country’s involvement. During an interview on Fox Business Network, he pointed out that the IP addresses originated in Ukraine. Kevin Beaumont, a security researcher, disputed Musk’s claim, stating that the attack came from worldwide IPs, not just Ukraine. The culprit was identified as a Mirai botnet, a type of malware that is relatively easy to create and deploy, which infects internet-connected devices. It is mainly known for hijacking linked devices such as routers and cameras, turning them into a network of bots to launch large-scale attacks. Another expert, Allan Liska, explained that even if the attacks appeared to originate from Ukraine, the machines there were likely compromised and controlled remotely, allowing attackers to disguise their actual location. Large-scale cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, with hackers often using botnets like Mirai to launch attacks on critical infrastructure, companies, and even government agencies. The ability to manipulate the origin of an attack makes attribution difficult, which is why experts caution against jumping to conclusions without concrete evidence. Using an outage detector, Downdetector.com reported a drastic surge in complaints within a short period. Reports of X being down started early in the morning, with issues peaking at 10 a.m. and continuing until noon. About 56% of the issues were on the app, while 33% affected the website.
Cybersecurity experts pointed out that without technical data from X, it would be difficult to determine whether the situation was a cyberattack or a technical failure on X’s part. They also stated that major platforms like X are frequent targets for hackers, making such events unsurprising to some users. Since Musk’s acquisition of X, the company has undergone multiple cost-cutting measures, which could have contributed to such issues, leading to weak defenses on the platform and increasing vulnerability. The reduced workforce may have also resulted in a slower response to the outage. Compared to other major platforms like Facebook and Instagram, X has seen a noticeable increase in security incidents and downtime. Some industry analysts speculate that if security breaches and outages continue, users and advertisers may start shifting to more stable platforms. Reese argued that if the attack was conducted by a state, temporary disruptions like these wouldn’t align with typical warfare strategies, which are usually more disruptive. The outage could have been a test or a warning for something larger. Some experts believe that cyber warfare is evolving, with state-sponsored attackers potentially probing vulnerabilities in widely used platforms before executing more severe attacks. While there is no confirmation that this was a state-sponsored event, the possibility highlights the growing importance of cybersecurity measures for social media giants.
X has had similar outages in the past. In March 2023, a similar glitch caused widespread issues, raising concerns about the platform’s stability. Given X’s history of technical troubles, this could have been another internal system failure rather than an external attack. These ongoing issues may push business owners and advertisers, who depend on X for their marketing strategies, to reconsider their reliance on the platform if such problems persist. The lack of transparency from X regarding security improvements further raises concerns about whether the company is taking necessary precautions to prevent future incidents. However, the true cause of the disruption remans unclear…..
