An unusually powerful outage hit X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, disabling the service for thousands of people around the world. The massive blackout, which sent people flocking to rival service Threads, stopped users from seeing and posting tweets on the app and website.
X owner Elon Musk said the outage was caused by a ‘massive cyberattack’ done by a ‘large, coordinated group’ or a country with ‘a lot of resources’. Musk then sensationally claimed that the attack originated in Ukraine, ‘with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area’.
However, experts have different opinions on the origin of the cyberattack. Security advisor Jake Moore mentioned that it could have originated ‘anywhere’, while Megha Kumar, head of geopolitical risk at CyXcel, emphasized the need for more information before jumping to conclusions.
The cyberattack is believed to be a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, where the attacker floods a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected online services and sites. Despite Musk’s claims, experts like Ciaran Martin from Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government find the explanation unconvincing.
Nicholas Reese, a cyber expert at New York University, does not think the attack was carried out by state actors and believes Musk’s claims should be taken with skepticism until concrete evidence is provided. The situation is further complicated by a pro-Palestinian, Russian-linked hacktivist group called Dark Storm taking credit for the disruption.
Overall, the outage has sparked debates and raised questions about cybersecurity and the potential motives behind such attacks. As investigations continue, it remains to be seen what further developments will unfold in this evolving story.