The US's Colonial
Pipeline in Georgia was attacked by a ransomware on Friday (7 May). It
is the country's largest fuel pipeline that supplies 45% of the East
Coast's supply of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel - about 2.5 million
barrels a day.
It was completely knocked offline by a cyber-criminal gang and until Sunday it is still down.
President
Biden declared a state of emergency. The state of emergency, in
accordance with the Jones Act, allows fuel to be transported by roads,
rails, rivers and sea.
Fuel prices are expected to rise today by at least 3%.
The impact will be far worse if it goes on for much longer.
It
is confirmed that the ransomware attack was caused by a cyber-criminal
gang called Dark Side, who infiltrated Colonial's network on Thursday
and took almost 100 GB of data.
After seizing the data, the
hackers locked the data on some computers and servers, and on Friday
demanded a ransom. If it is not paid, they will leak the data onto the
Internet.
The US, being the only super-criminal state in the world is being held for ransom by a small gang of cyber-cracks. What a joke!
SSO
Understand they have the best cyber security defence in the world. How can they be under cyber attack?? That goes to show that no matter how much boasting and propaganda is carried out, it only makes them complacent, lazy and swell headed, thinking no one else can overtake them in any field. When the shit hits the fan, they panic. What happens if a cyber attack shut down their military command in times of war?
ReplyDeleteNot everything that exists in this world is topped by the USA. That has become a myth at best. It is not a good idea to force countries to go on their own under sanctions, because that will strengthen their resolve and in fact make them work harder to overcome the odds. North Korea comes to mind.
The USA and the West can now laugh at the backwardness of China in semiconductor and chip making field, playing catch up, but it will be China having the last laugh in less than a decade. China will put those laughing out of business when the time comes.
Everything will be dependent on power, electric power. Switch it off, intentionally or by sabotage, everything will go blank, nothing works.
ReplyDeleteTo cut a long story short, they will surely deny there was any security risk or serious consequences resulting from the attack, and that they are well on top of the situation. We know this is on the surface, but underneath they are worried, especially when it comes to cyber attacks on nuclear plants, power grids and communication systems.
ReplyDeleteThe more important point is they can never know when such attacks will come and it will be disastrous during a war situation. That it was so easy to carry out such an attack on targets like this shows sabotaging the system is not impossible nor are they impenetrable. Hopefully they know what it is like doing it too often to others and finding oneself at the receiving end is not a pleasant feeling.