Washington, May, 2021: The colonial pipeline company, which operates the largest fuel pipeline system in the US, had its entire network shut down after a ransomware cyber security attack according to a statement by the company. The attack sought to encrypt computer systems of the company and to extract payments from operators.
The Colonial Pipeline Company ships gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the populous East Coast through 5,500 miles of pipeline, transporting 2.5 million barrels of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel while serving 50 million consumers. Company executives said they had already taken some systems offline to neutralize the threat therefore some transmission operations were affected. They said that a third-party cybersecurity firm was engaged, and they have launched an investigation into the nature and scope of this incident, which is ongoing and that they have also contacted federal agencies.
The attack prompted calls from cybersecurity experts for improved oversight of the industry to better prepare for future threats.
According to Algirde Pipikaite, they cyber strategy lead at WEF centre for cybersecurity, “This attack is unusual for the US. But the bottom line is that attacks targeting operational technology, the industrial control systems on the production line or plant floor, are becoming more frequent.”
Another expert, Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director at the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of Homeland security, says “Unless cybersecurity measures are embedded in a technology’s development phase, we are likely to see more frequent attacks on industrial systems like oil and gas pipelines or water. This underscores the threat that ransomware poses to organizations regardless of size or sector. We encourage every organization to take action to strengthen their cybersecurity posture to reduce their exposure to these types of threats.”
The US was rocked in recent months by news of two major cybersecurity breaches, the massive SolarWinds hack that compromised thousands of US government and private sector computer networks and was officially blamed on Russia; and a potentially devastating penetration of Microsoft email servers. The latter is believed to have affected at least 30,000 US organizations including local governments and was attributed to an aggressive Chinese cyber espionage campaign. Both breaches appeared to be aimed at stealing emails and data but they also created “back doors” that could allow attacks on physical infrastructure, according to The New York Times.
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