Written by Peter Grayson.
So X—yeah, that’s Twitter with a facelift—went dark most of Monday morning, March 10, 2025, and users were left high and dry. No scrolling for news, no memes, nothing. For a lot of grown-ups out there, this wasn’t just annoying—it was like losing a work tool or a lifeline to what’s happening. Imagine you’re a freelancer waiting on a client tweet or a parent checking storm updates, and bam, it’s gone.
Musk Calls It a Big-Time Hit
Elon Musk, the guy who owns X and stirs pots for a living, jumped on the platform to say it’s under attack. Not your average hack, either. “There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against ,” he posted. “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. Tracing …” Sounds like he’s got a hunch it’s more than just basement trolls—maybe some heavy hitters with cash and clout.
Musk’s not wrong about daily threats—web chatter says X gets pinged constantly since he took over in 2022. But this one? Different beast. He’s tied up with Trump’s crew now, pushing government cuts, and that makes him a lightning rod. Could be why someone’s swinging hard. For folks keeping score, it’s less about tech glitches and more about who’s mad enough to pull this off.
Three Strikes and X Was Out
The outages hit like a bad boxing match—three rounds, all knockouts. First went down around 5:30 a.m. Eastern, then again at 9:30, and a third punch near 11:00. By afternoon, it was limping back, but not without hiccups. Downdetector clocked over 40,000 gripes—57% from the app crashing, 33% the site itself. That’s a mess when you’re trying to post a job ad or catch a live update.
It’s not X’s first rodeo—remember that Trump interview last year that tanked? Tech’s been shaky under Musk, and online folks say it’s partly from slashing staff to save bucks. This attack, though, wasn’t some glitch—it’s a DDoS, a flood of fake traffic clogging the pipes. Picture a highway jammed with ghost cars; nobody moves. That’s what X faced, and it hit hard.
Scale’s the kicker here. Most DDoS stuff is small potatoes—annoying, but manageable. This took juice, planning, maybe a grudge. Which brings us to who’s behind it.
Dark Storm Team—or Something Bigger?
Enter Dark Storm Team, a pro-Palestinian hacking outfit that’s saying, “Yep, we did it.” Started in 2023, they’ve got a thing for hitting Israel’s backers—think NATO sites, airports, banks. Their go-to is DDoS, and they’re not shy about it. A Telegram post had them crowing about “taking Twitter offline,” flashing maps of X’s dead zones. Last month, they swore to ramp up attacks on anyone siding with Israel’s fight against Palestine—Trump and Musk fit that bill.
Why X? Musk’s loud pro-Israel stance, plus Trump’s policies, could’ve painted the target. Web digging shows Dark Storm’s hit U.S. stuff before—think power grids, small gov sites. But Musk’s tossing a curveball—mentioned on Fox News about IPs “from the Ukraine area.” Wait, what? That’s not their turf. Could be a state like Russia jumping in, using hackers as cover, or just noise to muddy the trail. Either way, it’s geopolitical poker now.
Here’s the rub: Dark Storm’s got motive, but do they have the muscle for what Musk’s describing? A “massive” attack takes servers, bots, maybe funding. Some online sleuths say it’s too big for a lone group—points to a nation-state flexing. No proof yet, just dots waiting to connect.
Our Take
This X takedown’s a wake-up call, plain and simple. Dark Storm Team claiming it tracks with their beef—Musk’s Israel love makes him fair game. But the size of this thing? That’s where I squint. Musk’s “country” hint and Ukraine jab feel like he’s got intel—or he’s guessing loud. Russia’s got the chops and the grudge, especially with U.S. tensions, but Dark Storm could just be their mask. Hard to say without the trace data he’s chasing.
X keeps tripping over itself—Musk’s cut corners are showing. Users deserve better than a platform that folds under pressure, whether it’s hacks or bad wiring. This isn’t some Justice Department fix—it’s on Musk to shore up his ship. Bigger picture, though? If states are in this game, cyber’s the new battlefield, and X just took a hit. We’re all watching how it shakes out.
