(HorizonPost.com) – The Colonial Pipeline carries fuel, including gasoline, from Houston, Texas, to the New York metro area running through several destinations, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The pipeline fell victim to a ransomware attack on May 6, and Colonial made the difficult decision to shut down. The domino effect has caused gas stations along the supply line to face empty tanks and useless pumps.
Gas stations along the East Coast are starting to run out of fuel as Colonial Pipeline fights to recover from a cyberattack that has paralyzed it for days. https://t.co/kxJdUeafYG
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) May 11, 2021
A hacker group attacked the company servers containing over 100 GB of data, forcing them to cease operations, including the flow of product. The FBI has identified a relatively new player in cyber warfare known as Darkside. The group threatens their targets with a release of sensitive information on the dark web unless the victims pay a large sum of money.
The potential shortages created by this attack resulted in consumers making a rush on local stations, causing many in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia to run dry. This panic is also causing prices to rise across the country with no fixed timeline for a return to normalcy. Luckily, Colonial Pipeline has announced that it expects to resume most of its operations by the end of the week.
Copyright 2021, HorizonPost.com
