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CYBER ATTACK: The risk ransomware can pose to critical national industrial infrastructure
In the wake of a cyberattack that took one of America’s most important gas and diesel pipelines offline, energy CEOs and government organisations are being urged to step up their game.
Even though… the pipeline hackers ‘didn’t mean to create problems’
This is the worst cyberattack on US infrastructure in history and probably the most disruptive too.
A criminal group from Russia who call themselves the ‘Darkside” is believed to be behind the ransomeware cyberattack, that shut down Colonial pipeline’s entire network.
Darkside hacking group
Darkside is a unique yet professional hacking group. They run their ransomware as a service business. The FBI released a statement that Darkside (or their client) was involved in the most recent hack in Colonial Pipeline.
Darkside claims to donate a portion of their bounty to charity and say they don’t want to cause problems for society. Recently, they released a statement saying they’re apolitical.
Never meant to cause chaos?
“We do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for… our motives,” the group said.
The group also indicated it had not been aware that Colonial was being targeted by one of its affiliates, saying: “From today, we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future.”
The FBI has been tracking this group for the past 7 months, but In robin-hood style, the group says that it never meant to cause chaos.
They only every wanted money… in a sign that the original plan went wrong.
The pipeline carries nearly half the fuel consumed along the U.S. East Coast.
American Airlines is the first U.S. airline to report an impact from the attack, requiring passengers to change planes, for some long-haul flights across the country.
Homeland security says investigations are ongoing.
The attack involved almost 100 gigabytes of data and forced the US government to declare a state of emergency.
Energy CEO’s and government organisations are being urged to step up their game…and review their security protocols.
This is definitely a wake-up call to corporate giants, not only in America, but around the world too.
The recent cyber attack on the US’ largest fuel pipeline has shown how we are all vulnerable to hackers.