The Colonial Pipeline Hack

Recently, a cyber criminal group hacked America’s largest gas pipeline, a pipeline that carries nearly half of the fuel consumed on the East coast. The pipeline was swiftly shut down before the hackers could cause serious damage, but the hackers demanded a reported 5 million dollars in exchange for returning the pipelines computer systems.

This pipeline shutdown led to gas shortages all along the East coast of the United States, which persisted for a few days before Colonial Pipeline Company, the owner of the Colonial pipeline, paid the 5 million dollar ransom demanded by the cyber attackers.

President Joe Biden said US officials do not believe that the Russian government had anything to do with this attack, however, there is reportedly “strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia.”

This attack is the first to prove just how big of a deal cyber security is becoming in today’s world. With cyber attacks being able to take down such critical infrastructure, it sets the precedent for emphasis on better cyber security in the United States.

Junior Thomas X., who has been following the situation closely, said, “I think that this is a big deal, first, there was the ransomware attacks on hospitals last year and now this? Critical infrastructure is way too easily shut down.”

His opinions are echoed by cybersecurity experts such as Rob Lee, the CEO of a critical infrastructure security firm called Dragos. Asides from the economic impacts of the colonial pipe’s shutdown, Lee points out that in 2020, 40 percent of America’s electricity is produced from burning natural gas. That means that the shutdown of a major natural gas line proves a larger threat than even this hack.

The Colonial Pipeline Company said that they “launched an investigation into the scope and nature of this incident, which is ongoing.” It is currently suspected that the cyber criminal group Darkside is responsible for the attack.