Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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SATX in the middle of oil country, prices rising, no shortage, some hoarding. Can't ship oil to NE, so supply plentiful. Just another Big Oil screw the people cause we can or another kick 'em in the nuts while they're down !
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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The Colonial Pipeline restarted operations on Wednesday, five days after a cyberattack on the company forced it to shut down the crucial fuel line that delivers nearly half the gasoline to the East Coast.

The closure triggered panic buying across the southeastern U.S. this week that drained supplies of gasoline at many retail stations, posing a threat to the economic rebound from the pandemic, as well as a political risk for President Joe Biden, who marshaled much of his Cabinet to mount a robust response to the supply disruption.

Still, Colonial Pipeline warned that resuming operations on the 5,500-mile artery that runs from Houston to New Jersey would take some time.

"It will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal," the company said in a statement. "Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told at a White House press briefing earlier on Wednesday that getting fuel to the communities suffering from the supply crunch was the administration's "top priority."

"This incident also reminds us that infrastructure is a national security issue," he told the White House press briefing.
In its statement, Colonial Pipeline said it "will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal." And it said it would conduct a comprehensive series of pipeline safety assessments in compliance with all federal pipeline safety requirements.
Buttigieg said that President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan would include the "expectation" that projects seeking federal money would need to have "robust cyber securities resilience and planning" included in their funding requests.

“This is not an extra," Buttigieg added. "This is not a luxury. This is not an option. This has to be core to how we secure our critical infrastructure and that includes infrastructure that is not owned and operated by the federal government.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/1 ... ack-487675
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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President Biden on Thursday warned gas companies to not price gouge amid major shortages following the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack.

Biden added that the FBI does not believe the Russian government is behind the attack, but they do know that those responsible "are living in Russia."

The president noted that the Justice Department launched a new task force that will specifically prosecute ransomware hackers "to the full extent of the law." Biden on late Wednesday signed an executive order in an attempt to bolster the country's cybersecurity defenses following the cyberattack.

"I'm going to work with governor's [in] the affected states to put a stop price gouging wherever it arises and asking our federal agencies to stand ready to provide assistance to state level efforts to monitor [and] address any price gouging," Biden said.

"Nobody should be using this situation for financial gain. That's what the hackers are trying to do. That's what they are about, not us," he added.

Biden also said that people should avoid getting "more gas than you need the next few days" because "panic buying will only slow the process," as it will likely take a few days for the pipeline to return to normal operations.

"Reports of price gouging have circulated in states most impacted by the closure of the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline. The pipeline runs from Texas to New Jersey, transporting more than 100 million gallons of fuel per day along the US Southeast," the Independent writes.
https://www.axios.com/biden-gas-station ... c516d.html

The gas may be flowing again, but the White House is more worried than it's letting on about the potential fallout of the Colonial Pipeline hack that caused fuel shortages and triggered price increases, Axios has learned.

Senior Biden officials are acutely sensitive to the images of lines outside gas stations before Memorial Day — the typical launch to the summer driving season. Republicans also are jumping on the bandwagon, suggesting Joe Biden is a modern-day Jimmy Carter.

Inflation seeping into the public consciousness and checkbook is giving legs to the attack.
"I see that everybody is comparing Joe Biden to Jimmy Carter," former President Trump said in a statement Wednesday. "It would seem to me that is very unfair to Jimmy Carter. Jimmy mishandled crisis after crisis, but Biden has CREATED crisis after crisis."

While the attempts to paint Biden as Carter are very real, a key difference with regard to the pipeline crisis is that gas disruptions in the 1970s happened in two waves, and lasted months. Colonial Pipeline announced Wednesday it was resuming its operations. Administration officials were relieved when they learned Colonial would begin reopening, but the crisis is still far from over.

Widespread gas shortages and hiked prices are expected to linger for weeks, and concerns over the country's vulnerability to cyberattacks that could threaten the U.S. grid remain at a fever pitch. Seeking to calm nerves on Capitol Hill, the White House took the unusual step of arranging for three Cabinet secretaries to brief Congress on the Colonial ransomware attack.

The White House's "bipartisan member briefing" on the cyberattack was to be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to an invitation reviewed by Axios. Briefers included Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Between the lines: The Colonial hack is a wicked problem for the White House. Because it involves a private company, there are limits to what the Biden administration can do unilaterally.

The White House issued a long-awaited cybersecurity executive order but it will require an act of Congress to create transformational change. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close friend of the president's, nodded when Axios asked whether the White House is more concerned about the situation regarding the Colonial Pipeline than it's letting on.

"We need to work in a bipartisan way to continue strengthening the legal, the regulatory, the federal, the state and the private infrastructure," Coons said. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who's been a leading voice in Congress on the issue, told Axios that if Americans knew how many ransomware attacks were happening every day, it would "blow their minds."

The Colonial hack, coupled with the Russians' SolarWinds attack — which had a breathtaking scale penetrating some 16,000 companies — has made people realize a cyber enemy could shut down an entire economy, Warner said. Warner sees a rare opportunity for bipartisan cooperation. He said he wants to partner with Republicans and the appropriate committees on legislation forcing critical infrastructure companies to report cyberattacks to a public-private entity in near real-time.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said: "I've been concerned for many years that we don't even have a mandatory requirement that attacks be reported to the federal government, and that information be shared." That still leaves the challenge of hardening infrastructure.

Major energy and other critical companies throughout America are still running outdated and vulnerable legacy computer systems. Jason Crabtree, CEO of cybersecurity and risk analytics company QOMPLX, and a former adviser to leadership of Army Cyber Command, said: "Mandatory reporting of breaches and incursions is a good start, but our government needs to do more."

"And companies need to actually walk the walk: by moving their cyber modernization efforts up to the top of the corporate priority list where leadership is held accountable for security program investment like other core business functions.”
https://www.axios.com/white-house-colon ... 5180a.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country’s largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction.

The company paid the hefty ransom in untraceable cryptocurrency within hours after the attack, underscoring the immense pressure faced by the Georgia-based operator to get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again to major cities along the East Coast, those people said. A third person familiar with the situation said U.S. government officials are aware that Colonial made the payment.

Once they received the payment, the hackers provided the operator with a decrypting tool to restore its disabled computer network. The tool was so slow that the company continued using its own backups to help restore the system, one of the people familiar with the company’s efforts said.

A representative from Colonial declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
A report released last month by a ransomware task force said the amount paid by ransomware victims increased by 311% in 2020, reaching about $350 million in cryptocurrency. The average ransom paid by organizations in 2020 was $312,493, according to report.

Colonial, which operates the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., became aware of the hack late last week and shut down its operations, which led to fuel shortages and lines at gas stations along the East Coast.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/ ... ources-say
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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DarkSide is reportedly down and out of action, their accounts drained and locked out of their own servers.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/politics ... index.html

Putin did not like other people demonstrating the cybersecurity weaknesses in our infrastructure, I take it. If they were indeed based in the ol' USSR, I have little doubt that they were infiltrated and compromised by the security services early on. These sorts of operations might have been useful for exploring attack venues in a profitable but deniable sort of way, but catch too much attention, and it's time to roll up the sidewalk and go home.

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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Hope Darkside is out of business permanently, but it's probably just temporary.

Across the pond in Ireland.
Ireland's health service operator shut down all its IT systems on Friday to protect them from a "significant" ransomware attack, crippling diagnostic services, disrupting COVID-19 testing and forcing hospitals to cancel many appointments.

An international cyber crime gang was behind the attack, Ireland's minister responsible for e-government Ossian Smyth said, describing it as possibly the most significant cyber crime attempt against the Irish state.

Ireland's COVID-19 vaccination programme was not directly affected, but the attack was affecting IT systems serving all other local and national health provision, the head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) said.

Ransomware attacks typically involve the infection of computers with malicious software, often downloaded by clicking on seemingly innocuous links in emails or other website pop-ups. Users are left locked out of their systems, with the demand that a ransom be paid to restore computer functions.

"We are very clear we will not be paying any ransom," Prime Minister Micheál Martin told reporters.

The HSE's chief described the attack as "very sophisticated." Officials said the gang exploited a previously unknown vulnerability, known as a 'zero-day' attack because the software maker has zero days' notice to fix the hole.
The attack was largely affecting information stored on central servers and officials said they were not aware that any patient data had been compromised. Hospital equipment was not impacted, with the exception of radiography services.

"More services are working than not today," the HSE's Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor told national broadcaster RTE.

"However, if this continues to Monday, we will be in a very serious situation and will be cancelling many services. At this moment, we can't access lists of people scheduled for appointments on Monday so we don't even know who to cancel."
A major Dublin maternity hospital cancelled all outpatient appointments until Tuesday other than those for women 36 or more weeks pregnant or in need of urgent care. Routine appointments were also cancelled in some but not all other hospitals.

The state's child and family agency, Tusla, said its IT systems, including the portal through which child protection referrals are made, are not currently operating.

At Cork University Hospital, the largest in Ireland's second city, staff arrived to find IT systems paralysed, with all computers switched off.

"Our main concern is patient safety and results that might be outstanding, laboratory data that needs to be available to manage patient care today. It's very distressing for patients," Medical Oncologist Seamus O'Reilly told RTE.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/iris ... 021-05-14/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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lurker wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 11:25 am wind and solar are looking better and better all the time.
Aren't they? I find it odd that so many freedom loving conservatives opposed to alternative energy are happy being slaves to mega corporations. Got to pay to play to drive that brodozer, I guess. Operation enduring freedom to support middle east wars and environmental catastrophe with your bank account while overcompensating. So fucking hot!

And that is just fucking gross that the pipeline was shutdown over billing concerns.

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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featureless wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:03 pm
lurker wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 11:25 am wind and solar are looking better and better all the time.
Aren't they? I find it odd that so many freedom loving conservatives opposed to alternative energy are happy being slaves to mega corporations. Got to pay to play to drive that brodozer, I guess. Operation enduring freedom to support middle east wars and environmental catastrophe with your bank account while overcompensating. So fucking hot!

And that is just fucking gross that the pipeline was shutdown over billing concerns.
BUT,BUT Think of the Shareholders children and the CEO bonuses.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:06 pm
featureless wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:03 pm
lurker wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 11:25 am wind and solar are looking better and better all the time.
Aren't they? I find it odd that so many freedom loving conservatives opposed to alternative energy are happy being slaves to mega corporations. Got to pay to play to drive that brodozer, I guess. Operation enduring freedom to support middle east wars and environmental catastrophe with your bank account while overcompensating. So fucking hot!

And that is just fucking gross that the pipeline was shutdown over billing concerns.
BUT,BUT Think of the Shareholders children and the CEO bonuses.
Right. Does every republican suffer from the delusion they will be CEO someday, thus CEOs need their support?

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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featureless wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:11 pm
TrueTexan wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:06 pm
featureless wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 12:03 pm
lurker wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 11:25 am wind and solar are looking better and better all the time.
Aren't they? I find it odd that so many freedom loving conservatives opposed to alternative energy are happy being slaves to mega corporations. Got to pay to play to drive that brodozer, I guess. Operation enduring freedom to support middle east wars and environmental catastrophe with your bank account while overcompensating. So fucking hot!

And that is just fucking gross that the pipeline was shutdown over billing concerns.
BUT,BUT Think of the Shareholders children and the CEO bonuses.
Right. Does every republican suffer from the delusion they will be CEO someday, thus CEOs need their support?
Nope, some think, like some CEOs, they will be President of the United States.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: US pipeline fuel system shuts down after cyberattack

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Conservative opposition to alternative energy sources has cost us billions.

I present it this way to conservatives all the time, and they always look like a deer in the headlights...

Okay... Even if you don't believe in climate change, you still should be supporting alternative energy. Why? Because the rest of the world disagrees with you, and they're moving money to alternative energy sources. By denying the technology, you're just handing the market to other nations; specifically China.

Okay, argue that one... That's when they have a look on their faces like...Oh shit.
If you can't recognize science, can you at least recognize money? And they call themselves capitalists.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

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