Elon Musk Accuses Foreign State of Coordinated Massive Cyberattack on X Platform

Elon Musk Blames "Massive Cyberattack" for Global X Outage
[Image: Musk at an event]

Elon Musk announced that X (formerly Twitter) suffered a “massive cyberattack” on Monday, causing widespread outages starting as early as 5:30 AM ET. Users globally reported login failures, error messages, and unloaded feeds, with over 40,000 outage reports logged on Downdetector by 10 AM ET. Musk claimed the attack required such extensive resources that it likely involved a “coordinated group” or foreign state.

Dark Storm Team Claims Responsibility
Hacker group Dark Storm Team reportedly took credit for the disruption. Cybersecurity firm SpyoSecure shared a post from the group’s leader confirming a DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack. DDoS attacks overwhelm sites with bot traffic, crashing servers and blocking legitimate users.

[Image: SpyoSecure’s X post about Dark Storm Team]

Political Ties and Rising Tensions
The outage coincides with Musk’s increasingly polarizing political role. As a key ally of former President Donald Trump, Musk heads the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has slashed federal jobs and programs. This, alongside Musk’s controversial policy endorsements, has sparked backlash.

Tesla Protests and Vandalism
[Image: Protesters outside Tesla store]
Tesla stores and vehicles have faced repeated attacks. On Saturday, 250 protesters gathered outside a New York City showroom, chanting “Musk Must Go” and holding anti-government efficiency signs. Five arrests were made. Similar rallies occurred nationwide, alongside vandalism incidents:

• A Tesla showroom in Salem, Oregon, was targeted with gunfire and Molotov cocktails.
• Four Cybertrucks were torched in Seattle, potentially arson.

History of Cyberattacks
Musk has previously blamed cyberattacks for X issues. In August 2024, a Trump interview on X was delayed due to suspected DDoS interference. Musk tweeted, “Given the prominence of this conversation, there was a 100% probability of DDoS attacks.”

Ongoing Fallout
While X’s services are gradually restoring, the incident underscores growing tensions around Musk’s influence in tech and politics. With hacktivists and protesters increasingly targeting his ventures, the billionaire’s ventures remain in the crosshairs of global scrutiny.

Word count: ~300 words (expandable with additional concise details as needed).