Just hours after reporting the cyberattack that caused the longest outage in X’s History (formerly Twitter), new details emerge about the possible causes of the attack.
In an interview with Fox Business host Stephen Miller, Elon Musk said the attack was intended to destroy X’s system with “IP addresses derived from the Ukraine region.”
The X cyberattack came from Ukraine, Musk says
This claim is tied to the broader context of regionally linked cyberattacks. The ongoing Russian-Ukrain conflict has led both countries to blame each other for digital attacks, including the 2022 cyberattacks in Ukraine, which has raised geopolitical tensions.
As Musk continued to end the war in Ukraine, news of a cyberattack came. He was later accused of disabling the Starlink service used by Ukrainian soldiers. Musk refused the claim in a post at 12:52 EDT on March 9, 2025, as follows:
“To be very clear, no matter how much I disagree with Ukrainian policies, Starlink will not turn off the terminal. I’m just saying that without Starlink the line of Ukraine would collapse! We’ll never do…”
SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink is a lifeline for Ukrainian military and civilians, maintaining the line of communication amid Russia’s efforts to thwart traditional signals. Its involvement has been a topic of controversy, particularly regarding the debate over US defense contracts and peace proposals. Despite differences of opinion regarding Ukraine’s strategy, Musk reaffirmed that Starlink’s services will be operational on a continuous basis to support Ukraine’s communication needs.
Why does Ukraine carry out cyber attacks with X?
Musk’s comments questioned why Ukraine is targeting X. Although no clear motivation has been established, the ongoing tensions and complex geopolitical dynamics between Ukraine and Russia have led to an increase in cyber activity from both sides. The broader context of local digital attacks, including past incidents, adds another layer of complexity to these accusations.
Meanwhile, the Hacker Group’s Darkstorm team has argued responsibility for a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack. The group, which appeared in 2023, has been linked to multiple cyberattacks and is known for supporting pro-Palestinian causes. Some reports suggest possible links to Ukraine or Russia. Their typical strategies include overwhelming websites with traffic disrupting services.
X’s Monday cyberattack caused major services disruption. According to Downdetector, some users peaked with around 41,000 incidents from 6am to 6am to 10am Eastern time. Both the X app and the website were affected, and many people were unable to access the platform.
Throughout the day, X faced some confusion, including at least three major outages. Most importantly, it occurred between 11:15am and 1:15pm Eastern time, during which users struggled with buffering and error messages, making the platform difficult to access.
X’s technical team has been working to manage the impact of attacks and restore stable service. X had previously faced cyber threats, but the scale and coordination of the incident raised concerns about the involvement of state-backed actors or highly organized groups. Research is underway to identify sources and enhance platform security.
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