Bluesky says its recent outage was caused by another DDoS attack

Bluesky confirmed on Monday that a distributed denial-of-service attack caused the day-long disruption users experienced over the previous 24 hours. The social networking site said it has upgraded its defenses in response and is continuing to monitor the situation. The company did not disclose additional details about the incident. A spokesperson for Bluesky did not immediately respond to questions about the attack.

DDoS attacks work by overwhelming a website or server with massive amounts of junk traffic, with the goal of exhausting its resources and forcing it offline. These attacks frequently rely on networks of hijacked internet-connected devices, sometimes organized into residential proxy networks or botnets, to pool unused bandwidth and flood targeted servers. The scale of such attacks can vary widely, but the effect on users is the same: the service becomes unreachable.

Security researchers discussing the situation in the IFIN public forum reported that attackers backed by Iran have claimed responsibility for the latest incident. The report comes amid a broader pattern of increased cyber activity against U.S. businesses and critical infrastructure by Iran since the start of the U.S. and Israel-led war earlier this year. The claim has not been independently verified by Bluesky or by outside security firms cited in the report.

This outage marks the second major DDoS event for Bluesky in recent months. In April, the platform suffered a prolonged series of outages caused by a similar flood of web traffic. The company has not said whether the two incidents are connected, and it has not provided technical evidence linking the attacks. The repeated disruptions highlight ongoing vulnerability to such assaults for the social network, which has grown in prominence among U.S. users.

Bluesky’s response so far has been limited to a brief public statement and a promise of stronger defenses. The company has not shared details on the size or duration of the attack, nor has it outlined any specific mitigation steps taken beyond the general upgrade. For U.S. users, the outage underscores the broader threat landscape facing social platforms, particularly those that have become popular alternatives to established networks. The lack of public attribution or detailed reporting from Bluesky leaves open questions about the attack’s origin and whether further incidents are expected.