Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) experienced intermittent outages on Monday, March 10, with its owner Elon Musk attributing the disruption to a large-scale cyberattack.
Musk Claims Large-Scale Attack, Experts Doubt Its Scale
In a post on X, Musk stated that the platform was hit by an unusually powerful denial-of-service (DoS) attack, which he speculated was executed by a coordinated group or even a nation-state.
“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,” Musk posted.
However, cybersecurity experts expressed skepticism, pointing out that DoS attacks of this nature do not necessarily require state-level resources and can often be executed by small groups or individuals.
X Users Face Widespread Disruptions
According to Downdetector, at its peak, the outage prevented over 39,000 users in the U.S. from accessing X by 10 a.m. ET. By 5 p.m., the number of reported disruptions had reduced to around 1,500 users.
A source from the internet infrastructure industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that X had been hit by multiple waves of denial-of-service attacks starting at around 9:45 UTC.
Attack Traced to Multiple Countries, Musk Singles Out Ukraine
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow, Musk claimed that the attack originated from IP addresses in the Ukraine region.
However, the industry source disputed Musk’s claim, stating that the rogue traffic primarily came from the U.S., Vietnam, Brazil, and other countries, while only an insignificant amount originated from Ukraine.
Given the nature of denial-of-service attacks, cybersecurity professionals noted that it is difficult to accurately trace the true source of such an incident, as attackers often use proxy networks and botnets to obscure their origins.
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Musk’s Stance on Ukraine Draws Further Attention
Musk has been a vocal critic of U.S. support for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia. On Sunday, he claimed that Ukraine’s frontline would collapse without his Starlink satellite communications service, though he stated he had no plans to cut off its access.
Musk’s comments linking the attack to Ukraine have raised eyebrows, as he has recently echoed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s skepticism about continued aid to Ukraine.
As investigations into the X outage continue, questions remain over the true source of the attack, as well as the extent of its impact on the platform.
This story was first reported by Reuters.
