Bluesky confirmed on Monday that a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack caused a day-long disruption to its social networking platform in August 2026, marking the latest in a series of large-scale attacks against the site this year.
The attack flooded Bluesky’s servers with junk traffic over a 24-hour period, overwhelming its resources and knocking the service offline. “We have upgraded our defenses in response, and we continue to monitor the situation,” the company said in a post, offering no additional details. A Bluesky spokesperson did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions about the incident.
DDoS attacks work by directing massive volumes of junk traffic at a target server, typically using networks of hijacked internet-connected devices — known as botnets or residential proxy networks — to exhaust the server’s capacity and take it offline.
Security researchers discussing the attack in the IFIN public forum report that Iran-backed attackers have claimed responsibility. According to the source material, Iran has increased its attacks on U.S. businesses and critical infrastructure since the start of the U.S. and Israel-led war earlier in 2026.
This is not the first time Bluesky has faced this type of disruption. In April 2026, the platform suffered a prolonged series of outages caused by a similar flood of web traffic. Whether the two incidents are connected remains unclear.
The recurring attacks suggest Bluesky may face continued pressure on its infrastructure. The company has not disclosed specifics about the defensive measures it has put in place following this latest incident.
Source: TechCrunch