Hacking (Colonial Pipeline Ransomewear)

Geo context

• The Colonial Pipeline is an oil pipeline system in the US, transporting gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. 

  • transports 2.5 million barrels per day, ~45% of the fuel supply for the East Coast of the US

In May 2021, there was a ransomware attack by the group DarkSide, believed to be operating from Russia.  

Impact

• Caused economic disruption as the line was shut down for 6 days

  • Resulted in significant fuel shortages across the US

  • people began to panic buy gasoline, causing price spikes, and businesses relying on fuel for transportation faced large disruptions

  • ~15,000 gas stations experienced fuel outage

  • US gas price rose by 3 to 7 cents per gallon, to its highest level since 2014, at $3.03/gallon

• Colonial Pipeline paid a ransom of $4.4 million in crypto

Improvement

• This put pressure on the US government to strengthen cybersecurity measures, as it highlighted the vulnerability of the infrastructure

• increase audits, have a cybersecurity coordinator

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