Colonial fuel pipeline supplies halted by cyber attack
The largest fuel pipeline in the US was hit by a ransomware cyber attack over the weekend.
The Colonial Pipeline transports 2.5 million barrels a day about 45% of the East Coast's supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel.
It went offline on Friday following the attack and engineers are still working to restore service.
A total of 18 states have been granted a temporary hours of service waiver for transporting gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products, as reported by the BBC.
They are Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Experts say fuel prices are likely to rise 2-3% on Monday, but the impact will be far worse if it goes on for much longer.
The temporary waiver issued by the Department of Transportation enables oil products to be shipped in tankers up to New York, but this would not be anywhere near enough to match the pipeline's capacity.
Multiple sources have confirmed that the ransomware attack was caused by a cyber-criminal gang called DarkSide, who infiltrated Colonial's network on Thursday and took almost 100GB of data hostage.
Colonial said it is working with law enforcement, cyber-security experts and the Department of Energy to restore service.
On Sunday evening it said that although its four mainlines remain offline, some smaller lateral lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational.
"Quickly after learning of the attack, Colonial proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat. These actions temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems, which we are actively in the process of restoring," the firm said.
"We are in the process of restoring service to other laterals and will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so, and in full compliance with the approval of all federal regulations."
The Colonial Pipeline transports 2.5 million barrels a day about 45% of the East Coast's supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel.
It went offline on Friday following the attack and engineers are still working to restore service.
A total of 18 states have been granted a temporary hours of service waiver for transporting gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products, as reported by the BBC.
They are Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Experts say fuel prices are likely to rise 2-3% on Monday, but the impact will be far worse if it goes on for much longer.
The temporary waiver issued by the Department of Transportation enables oil products to be shipped in tankers up to New York, but this would not be anywhere near enough to match the pipeline's capacity.
Multiple sources have confirmed that the ransomware attack was caused by a cyber-criminal gang called DarkSide, who infiltrated Colonial's network on Thursday and took almost 100GB of data hostage.
Colonial said it is working with law enforcement, cyber-security experts and the Department of Energy to restore service.
On Sunday evening it said that although its four mainlines remain offline, some smaller lateral lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational.
"Quickly after learning of the attack, Colonial proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat. These actions temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems, which we are actively in the process of restoring," the firm said.
"We are in the process of restoring service to other laterals and will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so, and in full compliance with the approval of all federal regulations."
