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Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack Rattles Power Industry, Renews Vulnerability Concerns
A ransomware incident on May 7 that prompted Colonial Pipeline Co., owner of the nation’s largest refined products pipeline, to proactively shut it down underscores the punch cyberthreats can pose to organizations, “regardless of size or sector,” the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned.
Five days after Colonial Pipeline first learned it was the victim of a cyberattack, the Alpharetta, Georgia-headquartered company continued to restore operations on the 5,500-mile pipeline, which transports more about 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast from refineries primarily in the Gulf Coast. The White House on Monday said the Biden administration was
“This interruption of the distribution of refined gasoline and jet fuel underscores the vulnerability of our national critical infrastructure in cyberspace and the need for effective cybersecurity defenses, including a robust public-private collaboration to protect both the pipeline system and electric grid, as well as the infrastructure of the telecommunications and financial services systems,” King and Gallagher said.
Threats to critical infrastructure have built steadily in recent years, and over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic have spiked, particularly as more work is done remotely and online.
Both nation states and cyber criminals have increasingly turned to ransomware as the weapon of choice to pressure organizations, including hospitals and schools, to pay large sums to decrypt their networks.
White House denies there s supply shortage in wake of ransomware attack on major U.S. pipeline Jenna McLaughlin
WASHINGTON President Biden’s homeland security adviser, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, told reporters Monday afternoon that, despite disruptions created by a ransomware attack on a major U.S. pipeline over the weekend, the White House is not immediately concerned about fuel shortages or major damage to critical infrastructure.
“Right now there is not a supply shortage,” she said at the daily White House press briefing. “We are preparing for multiple contingencies because that is our job. . Colonial is currently working with its private cybersecurity consultants to assess potential damage and to determine when it is safe to bring the pipeline back online.”
Fuel holding tanks are seen at Colonial Pipeline s Linden Junction Tank Farm on May 10, 2021 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Alpharetta, Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline, which has the largest fuel pipeline, was forced to shut down its oil and gas pipeline system on Friday after a ransomware attack that has slowed down the transportation of oil in the eastern U.S. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
A May 7 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline largely shut down the largest refined products pipeline system in the U.S., demonstrating the atypical cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities faced by organizations with geographically distributed networks.
Just as oil and gas can flow up and down the pipeline, so can malware, reaching remote facilities whose IT and operational technology systems may not be adequately fortified to defend against an attack. Consequently, one point of compromise can have a cascading effect that impacts fuel distribution across the nation, which in turn ca