The Associated Press. The FBI advises against paying such ransoms because it only encourages a global criminal feeding frenzy that has worsened during the pandemic. But many ransomware victims – especially those ill-prepared for a quick recovery with carefully managed backups – opt to pay. US President Joe Biden said that his administration would seek to put the responsible Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate out of business, and its operators later said they were shutting down. Biden has said he intends to speak directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin about his government s harbouring of ransomware criminals that have caused tens of billions of dollars in damages in the West in the past year. The pipeline shutdown is the most damaging cyberattack on US soil.
Gas crunch from cyberattack intensifies
By JEFF MARTIN, FRANK BAJAK and NOMAAN MERCHANT - Associated Press
A gas pump at a gas station in Silver Spring, Md., is out of service, notifying customers they are out of fuel, late Thursday. Motorists found gas pumps shrouded in plastic bags at tapped-out service stations across more than a dozen U.S. states Thursday while the operator of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline reported making “substantial progress” in resolving the computer hack-induced shutdown responsible for the empty tanks.
Gas shortages at the pumps have spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., following a ransomware cyberattack that forced a shutdown of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline. Though the pipeline operator paid a ransom, restoring service was taking time.
Gas shortages at the pumps have spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., following a ransomware cyberattack that forced a shutdown of the nation s largest gasoline pipeline. Though the pipeline operator paid a ransom, restoring service was taking time. As Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline reported making substantial progress in restoring full service, multiple sources confirmed that the company had paid the criminals a ransom of nearly US$5 million in cryptocurrency for the software decryption key required to unscramble their data network. The ransom 75 Bitcoin was paid last Saturday, a day after the criminals locked up Colonial s corporate network, according to Tom Robinson, co-founder of the cryptocurrency-tracking firm Elliptic. Prior to Robinson s blog post, two people briefed on the case had confirmed the payment amount to The Associated Press.