SAN FRANCISCO: A major cyberattack disrupted X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, affecting users worldwide, with Elon Musk suggesting the platform was deliberately targeted, though concerns remain over whether staff cuts under his leadership have weakened its security.
Reports of problems with X started early on Monday, with users in Asia, Europe, and North America saying they could not access the platform, according to the Downdetector tracking site.
“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X,” Musk said in a post on the platform, which was working sporadically as the day wore on.
Musk also blamed a cyberattack—although he provided no evidence—for crashing the site last year when an interview with Donald Trump was about to be streamed on it.
In his post on Monday, Musk included an X post from a DogeDesigner account that some on Reddit speculated could be a puppet of the tycoon himself—in other words, Musk hiding behind his own identity.
The post noted protests against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that Trump entrusted to Musk, along with Tesla shops being vandalised, suggesting a cyberattack could signal another burst of animosity towards Musk. He is the chief of Tesla, the electric car company.
“It would take a lot of (money) to do an attack of this magnitude,” read a post in the exchange by the account of Jammies.
“Who has the resources to fund this?”
Musk also maintained such an attack would take tremendous resources, speculating it was the work of a country or a large coordinated group.
Cybersecurity experts say that it is difficult to assess what is happening without being able to see into X operations, but the duration of the trouble is a sign of an attack.
“It’s cyberwar hitting at full force,” said Chad Cragle of cyber defence platform Deepwatch.
“With Musk in the spotlight and political tensions at a peak, these attacks bear all the indicators of nation-state aggression.”
Axe-wielding
Trump responded last week to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire adviser Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted.
“We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,’” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
The president’s message represents the first significant move to rein in the power accorded to Musk, as DOGE works towards gutting federal staffing and spending.
DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.
Trump confirmed that he had convened his cabinet to deliver the message that they, not Musk, were in charge of their departments.
Outages on the X social media platform left tens of thousands of users unable to access the site, according to monitors.
At the peak, more than 40,000 people reported outages, the site said.
“Twitter keeps breaking?” asked a post by @Lalaslovely in the Downdetector chat section.
After Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022, the majority of employees left or were fired, raising concerns about whether staffing was in place to keep the platform safe and stable.
Since acquiring Twitter with the stated intention of promoting free speech, Musk has faced criticism for slashing content moderation teams.
Under his ownership, the platform has also experienced technical issues and reinstated accounts of right-wing conspiracy theorists and Trump.
Advocacy groups say misinformation has flourished on X under Musk, who has come under fire for spreading it to his huge online audience.
