Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the US, was hit by a ransomware attack that forced it to shut down. This 5,500-mile-long pipeline, which carries more than 100 million gallons of fuel from Houston to New York Harbour every day, has been forced to stay offline since 7th May 2021 due to the attack. 

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Incident in Detail:

  • On 7th May, Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware attack.
  • As soon as the company operating the pipeline learned of the attack, it proactively took certain systems offline in order to contain the threat.
  • Taking these measures temporarily halted all operations and impacted some of the company’s IT systems.
  • The company immediately engaged third-party cyber security experts to investigate the issue and determine the scope of the incident. 
  • The company also contacted law enforcement and other federal agencies such as the Department of Energy.
  • The DarkSide ransomware gang is believed to be responsible for this attack.

The Colonial Pipeline Company is developing a system restart plan. While the main pipelines are offline, the company has opened some smaller lateral lines between delivery points and terminals. Moreover, it has not even been a month since the incident of a widespread ransomware attack on the top two universities of the US happened!

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