The Colonial Pipeline shutdown says we’re in a scary new world
Last week, Colonial Pipeline, one of the primary fuel pipelines on the East Coast, shut down 5,500 miles of its infrastructure because of a “ransomware attack,” which encrypts key data until a ransom is paid. The attack, which is being investigated, is causing fuel shortages in several states. Colonial has restarted operations. Bloomberg News is reporting that the company paid nearly $5 million in ransom, though we don’t yet know what vulnerability the attackers exploited.
But it is clear that this is a landmark attack: It shows how vulnerable a nation’s energy infrastructure is and how profitable online extortion can be. Even though the Biden administration has just issued new rules on cybersecurity, it hasn’t yet offered ransomware victims any guidance about what to do or how to recover.