Gas is starting to flow to the East Coast as Colonial Pipeline restarted operations yesterday afternoon.
While that’s good news, the company warned it “will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal” and some markets “may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period.”
Earlier this morning, Colonial expanded on their initial statement by saying they have made “substantial progress” in restarting their pipeline system. Most markets are now getting fuel and every market should be getting some by later today.
Also Read: Gas Stations Go Dry As Ransomware Attack Spurs Panic Buying On East Coast
However, everything isn’t cut and dry as Bloomberg is reporting Colonial paid hackers nearly $5 (£3.5 / €4.1) million in cryptocurrency “within hours” of the attack. Once the group was paid, they reportedly provided a decryption tool to restore the company’s computer network. Unfortunately, the tool was “so slow that the company continued using its own backups to help restore the system.” This could explain why the shutdown lasted days, even after the ransom was reportedly paid.
The government is reportedly aware that Colonial paid the hackers, but officials have been tight-lipped. This isn’t surprising as the government’s position is that paying ransoms incentivizes attackers and there’s no guarantee they’ll follow through on their promises.
While $5 (£3.5 / €4.1) million doesn’t sound like much in the grand scheme of things, one cybersecurity expert told the publication, “I think the threat actor realized they stepped on the wrong company and triggered a massive government response.” They went on to suggest a ransom of around $25-35 (£17.8-24.9 / €20.6-28.9) million would be more typical of a company the size of Colonial.
Regardless, gas is starting to flow and that should help to alleviate shortages on the East Coast. As we have previously reported, a number of gas stations have run out of fuel as people started panic buying. The situation has gotten so bad that the government had to tell people not to store fuel in plastic bags.
