Video conferencing platform Zoom faced a major global outage on Friday, disrupting core services including video meetings, its website, and mobile applications. Zoom Communications later said it had resolved the issue, which left tens of thousands of users worldwide unable to connect.
At the peak of the disruption around 3:01 p.m. ET, Downdetector.com — which tracks service outages — reported as many as 67,280 user complaints, primarily from the United States but also from several other countries. Users encountered error code 503, commonly linked to server-side issues.
“Service has now been restored after the earlier outage,” Zoom confirmed on X (formerly Twitter), after earlier acknowledging “domain name resolution issues on the zoom.us domain that is affecting multiple services.”
The company is still investigating the cause of the outage and has not officially confirmed whether it was a cyberattack. However, several users on social media claimed that a hacking group named DarkStorm was behind a DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack targeting Zoom.
“We do work on USA platforms as we said,” the group posted on X, prompting further speculation. Zoom has yet to comment on the alleged attack.
According to Zoom’s status page, the disruption impacted multiple services including Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, Zoom Contact Center, and the company’s main website. Downdetector also recorded over 50,000 problem reports during the incident.
What is a DDoS attack?
A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a target server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. Unlike a traditional Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack, which typically comes from a single source, a DDoS attack originates from multiple sources, often using thousands of compromised devices such as computers, smartphones, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. These devices, collectively known as a “botnet,” are controlled remotely by cybercriminals without the knowledge of their owners.
The goal of a DDoS attack is to exhaust the resources of the target system, making it unable to respond to legitimate requests. This can cause the targeted website, service, or network to slow down, become unavailable, or crash entirely. DDoS attacks can affect any online service, including websites, applications, and cloud-based platforms.
DDoS attacks are difficult to defend against due to their distributed nature. The sheer volume of traffic can overwhelm even the most advanced security systems. Businesses and organizations often implement various strategies, such as traffic filtering and load balancing, to mitigate the impact of these attacks.
