Tag Archive for: Colonial

Colonial Pipeline latest in ballooning ransomware epidemic

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The international nature of ransomware crime is also an impediment to bringing it under control. The Justice Department and FBI are working with allies and partners overseas to investigate criminal rings, disrupt their operations and online infrastructure, and prosecute hackers, officials said. In January, the department joined Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain in dismantling the botnet known as Emotet, which had infected hundreds of thousands of computers in the United States and caused millions of dollars in damage worldwide. The botnet, an army of hijacked computers, could also be used to spread ransomware.

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Pipeline hack update: Colonial reopens across the map, ransomware payment

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Fuel tanks are seen at Colonial Pipeline Baltimore Delivery in Baltimore

Colonial Pipeline was the target of a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down operations.


Jim Watson/Getty Images

Colonial Pipeline, which shut down after a ransomware attack last week, said its entire system had resumed normal operations, a development that will help relieve concerns of a gas shortage along the East Coast of the US.

In a series of tweets early Saturday, the pipeline operator said it is “delivering millions of gallons per hour” to the markets it served. The company said it delivers 100 million gallons of fuel a day.

Colonial had been closed since last Friday, when a ransomware infection was found on its computer systems. The shutdown affected the supply of gas in parts of the East Coast, with some people waiting an hour or more at filling stations or not finding gas at all. State and federal officials had warned against hoarding and panic buying that could exacerbate the problem.

The ransomware infection at Colonial highlighted the vulnerability of the country’s critical infrastructure, which has been the target of an increasing number of cyberattacks. Cities, schools and hospitals have all been hit by cybercriminals, who scramble a victim’s computers and then extort a payment to decrypt them.


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Colonial Pipeline Paid DarkSide Hackers $5M to Restore Systems

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(TNS) — Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country’s largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction.

The company paid the hefty ransom in difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency within hours after the attack, underscoring the immense pressure faced by the Georgia-based operator to get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again to major cities along the Eastern Seaboard, those people said. A third person familiar with the situation said U.S. government officials are aware that Colonial made the payment.

Once they received the payment, the hackers provided the operator with a decrypting tool to restore its disabled computer network. The tool was so slow that the company continued using its own backups to help restore the system, one of the people familiar with the company’s efforts said.


A representative from Colonial declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the National Security Council. Colonial said it began to resume fuel shipments around 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday.

The hackers, which the FBI said are linked to a group called DarkSide, specialize in digital extortion and are believed to be located in Russia or Eastern Europe.

On Wednesday, media outlets including The Washington Post and Reuters, also based on anonymous sources, reported that the company had no immediate intention of paying the ransom.

Ransomware is a type of malware that locks up a victim’s files, which the attackers promise to unlock for a payment. More recently, some ransomware groups have also stolen victims’ data and threatened to release it unless paid — a kind of double extortion.

The FBI discourages organizations from paying ransom to hackers, saying there is no guarantee they will follow through on promises to unlock files. It also provides incentive to other would-be hackers, the agency says.

However, Anne Neuberger, the White House’s top cybersecurity official, pointedly declined to say whether companies should pay cyber ransoms at a…

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Is the gas shortage over now that Colonial is back up?

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Colonial Pipeline, which shut down after a ransomware attack last week, has resumed deliveries to all its markets, a move that will likely relieve concerns of a gas shortage along the East Coast. Those fears prompted hoarding and panic buying that exacerbated the problem, even as state and federal officials warned against such action. 



a close up of a sign: Colonial Pipeline was the target of a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down operations. Getty Images

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Colonial Pipeline was the target of a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down operations. Getty Images

The major petroleum pipeline had been closed since last Friday, when a ransomware infection was found on its computer systems. The shutdown affected the supply of gas in parts of the East Coast, with some people waiting an hour or more at filling stations or not finding gas at all.

“Colonial Pipeline can now report that we have restarted our entire pipeline system and that product delivery has commenced to all markets we serve,” the company tweeted on Thursday afternoon. Still, the company cautioned that some markets may continue to experience interruptions and that it would take several days until the “product delivery supply chain” returned to normal.



a building with a blue umbrella: Colonial Pipeline was the target of a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down operations.

© Getty Images

Colonial Pipeline was the target of a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down operations.


The ransomware infection at Colonial highlighted the vulnerability of the country’s critical infrastructure, which has been the target of an increasing number of cyberattacks. Cities, schools and hospitals have all been hit by cybercriminals, who scramble a victim’s computers and then extort a payment to decrypt them.

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On Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at strengthening US cybersecurity. The wide-ranging action includes the creation of a Cyber Safety Review Board that will convene after major incidents. Members of the Defense and Justice departments, several security agencies and private sector specialists will be on the board.

The FBI blamed the attack on a group called Darkside, which is believed to be based in Russia. On Thursday, Biden told a briefing the FBI doesn’t believe the Russian government itself was involved in the attack. 

Darkside’s website has gone offline with the

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