Colonial Pipeline paid a $ 5 million ransom to hackers to get back into business

Colonial Pipeline paid a ransom of 75 Bitcoin, or approximately $ 5 million, at hackers, to be able to operate again

Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / AFP / Getty Images

Colonial Pipeline , a major refined fuel pipeline serving the east coast of the United States, paid hackers who extorted roughly 75 Bitcoin, or nearly $ 5 million, to recover your stolen trading data , according to people informed about the transaction.

The ransom payment occurred after cybercriminals stopped the system service last week Colonial Pipeline pipelines with ransomware , a form of malware that encrypts data up to the victim to pay for them, and threatened to post them online, reported The New York Times .

Colonial Pipeline pre-emptively closed its dis taxation to prevent ransomware from spreading throughout his system and because he had no way to bill customers with his offline trading and accounting networks.

The closure of the company’s network, which includes 5, 500 miles of pipeline supplying nearly half of the gas, diesel and jet fuel to the east coast, triggered a cascading crisis that led to emergency meetings at the White House, a jump in gas prices, gas station shopping panic and forced some airlines to make fuel stops to refuel before long-haul flights.

The ransom payment was first reported by Bloomberg.

A Colonial spokesperson was refused to confirm or deny to The New York Times that the company had paid a ransom.

Shortly before publishing For this information, President Joe Biden refused at a press conference to answer questions about whether Colonial had paid a ransom, but the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki said during her appearance daily that the federal government’s policy continues to be not to hand over the money requested for ransoms, for fear of encouraging cybercriminals to launch more attacks.

One of the Biden’s Senior Cybersecurity Advisors, Anne Neuberger , also declined to confirm a ransom payment, on Monday. “Normally that is a decision of the private sector,” he pointed out.

The FBI has accused the Darkside hacking group, based in Eastern Europe, of being responsible for the cyberattack last Friday against the pipeline network , operated by Colonial, which caused the interruption of its activities for several days.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Colonial announced the resumption of its operations, although it warned that several days so that the fuel supply returns to normal.

This Thursday it reported in a statement that the work to resume the total flow in the pipeline network was progressing and that by noon all markets they serve would be supplied.

That network provides fuel to 45% of the East Coast market, and transports up to 2.5 million barrels per day gasoline, diesel and fuel tible of aviation from the refineries of the Gulf of Mexico to the south and east of the country.

With information from CNBC and EFE