On Saturday (May 8), the operator of a major pipeline system for fuel transportation on the U.S. East Coast said it was hit by a ransomware attack and had to halt all pipeline operations to counter the threat.
The attack took place on Friday (May 7) and Colonial Pipeline has not released the specifics of the ransomware attack with the initiating party at this time.
The Georgia company is in the business of transporting gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries located along the Gulf Coast via a pipeline from Texas to New Jersey. Its pipeline system spans more than 5,500 miles and transports more than 100 million gallons per day. The company says it provides about 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, with service involving U.S. military installations.
In this case, Colonial Pipeline said Friday’s ransomware attack affected some of its information technology systems, and the company “voluntarily” shut down certain systems and halted pipeline operations. In an earlier statement, the company said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve the issue” with a view to resuming normal operations.
U.S. experts believe the cyberattack is unlikely to affect gasoline supplies and prices unless the attack leads to a prolonged pipeline shutdown.
Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices would depend on the length of the pipeline outage. He said a shutdown for one or two days would be the least impactful, but a shutdown for five or six days could lead to product shortages and price increases for suppliers everywhere, especially in areas from central Alabama to Washington, D.C., that would be affected.
The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed Saturday morning and that the federal government is working with the company to assess the impact of the attack to restore operations and avoid supply disruptions. The administration is planning for various scenarios and working with state and local authorities to take steps to mitigate any potential supply problems.
FireEye, a private cybersecurity company, said it has been hired to manage the incident response investigation.
Lipow believes that if the shutdown is prolonged, the supply of aviation fuel needed to keep major airports, such as those in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., operating may also be affected.
Robert Lee, a leading expert on industrial control systems and CEO of Dragos, said that over the past decade, systems that directly manage pipeline operations have become increasingly connected to computer networks. lee noted that if Cologne’s shutdown of operations is largely preventative – and it identified the ransomware attack early and was well prepared – then the impact may not be significant.
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