Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers $5 Million In Ransom Hours After Attack
Zerohedge.com
Update (1028ET): Bloomberg reports Colonial Pipeline paid Eastern European hackers approximately $5 million in untraceable cryptocurrency last Friday, contradicting a WaPo report it had no plans to pay the ransom to unlock its paralyzed pipeline system.
What a difference one day makes!
The company said the ransom was paid hours after the attack. Once the ransom was paid, the hackers provided Colonial with a decrypting tool to restore its computer system that controlled the pipeline that carries 100 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from Texas to New Jersey.
There was no mention in the report which cryptocurrency Colonial paid the hackers.
The FBI has said the hacking group is called “DarkSide,” believed to be located in Eastern Europe or Russia.
The FBI has requested companies and local and state governments not to pay ransom upon an attack because there is no guarantee the hackers will unlock files.
Meanwhile, VOA News’ Steve Herman quotes Brandon Wales, the acting director of CISA, as saying, he “cannot confirm or deny whether Colonial paid the ransom.”
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After six days of a fuel shortage crisis that has rocked much of the Southeast US, Colonial Pipeline announced at 0900 ET that it “has made substantial progress in safely restarting our pipeline system and can report that product delivery has commenced in a majority of the markets we service.”
Colonial said by mid-day, each market it services should be “receiving the product from our system.” The pipeline carries about 100 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
The green segments on the map below are operational, meaning gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are flowing through the system. The blue lines represent those segments that will be operational later today.
With product flowing through the system, that doesn’t necessarily mean fuel shortages will instantly diminish. There’s still a shortage of qualified tanker drivers to haul fuels to gas stations.