Washington: A major cyberattack was launched on Colonial Pipeline, recognised as the US’ largest gasoline and jet fuel pipeline and operator. The company has closed down the entire pipeline and energy supply following the cyberattack. President Joe Biden has been informed about the incident, and the White House said the Energy Department and the central investigation agency had started an investigation into the attack. The pipeline system spreads across 9,000 kilometres in the eastern United States, supplying nearly 2.3 million barrels of fuel per day.
The Colonial Pipeline, extending from New Jersey to Texas in the eastern United States, was subjected to a cyberattack. After the attack, the company has closed down the complete pipeline network as a precautionary measure. The company has sought assistance from the FireEye cybersecurity company, where the incident was found to be a Ransomware attack. In such attacks, the hacker or a group of hackers take complete control of the network and data, demanding a ransom.
In the last few years, such incidents of Ransomware attacks have consistently occurred in the hospitals and government offices in the United States. In some of the cases, the ransom demanded was in the form of Bitcoins. However, no information is available as yet on the ransom demanded in the Colonial Pipeline case.
Officials have clarified that the attack will have little or no effect on supplies and rates of fuel, in the United States, as of now. Nevertheless, if the network remains closed for five days or more, it could reportedly affect the fuel supply.
The US cybersecurity issue has once again come to the fore due to the cyberattack on the largest fuel pipeline in the country. Last year, major cyberattacks had been carried out on many government agencies and private companies. The US administration had informed that Russia and China had a hand in the cyberattacks. Orders had also been issued to launch retaliatory cyberattacks on the Russian agencies. However, it becomes a matter of significant embarrassment for the United States as a cyberattack was launched on the largest fuel pipeline in the country, even before it could make a move.
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