One of the USA’s largest oil pipelines has been shut by ransomware, leading the nation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue a regional emergency declaration permitting the transport of fuel by road.
The Colonial Pipeline says it carries 100 million gallons a day of refined fuels between Houston, Texas, and New York Harbor, or 45 percent of all fuel needed on the USA’s East Coast. The pipeline carries fuel for cars and trucks, jet fuel, and heating oil.
It’s been offline since May 7, according to a company statement, due to what the outfit described as “… a cybersecurity attack [that] involves ransomware.”
It added: “In response, we proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat, which has temporarily halted all pipeline operations, and affected some of our IT systems.”
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In a statement on May 10 fingering the culprits of the attack, the FBI said “the Darkside ransomware is responsible for the compromise of the Colonial Pipeline networks. We continue to work with the company and our government partners on the investigation.”
Meanwhile, on its Tor-hidden website, the Darkside crew seems to regret the attention it has drawn from Uncle Sam. “From today we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future,” it wrote.
Robin Edgar
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