Hackers Got $5 Million: Colonial Pipeline Reportedly Paid a Ransom in Cryptocurrency
AnonTechie writes:
The Colonial Pipeline Company reportedly paid hackers $5 million on Friday following a cyberattack that forced the pipeline offline and created a severe gas shortage, sources told Bloomberg News Thursday, which conflicts with reports the company would not pay a ransom.
[...] The FBI concluded on Monday DarkSide was responsible for the cyberattack, and President Joe Biden said Russian officials may have "some responsibility" for the attack because the group of hackers used ransomware originated in Russia. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian involvement in the attack. Colonial is responsible for transporting 45% of all fuel used on the East Coast, and the five-day outage left thousands of gas stations in the Southeastern United States without fuel.
Colonial isn't the first company to pay hackers ransom to try and restore service. In July 2020, U.S. travel company CWT paid hackers $4.5 million to try and recover corporate files and bring their computer systems back online.
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
DarkSide hackers say the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack was only about the money - not politics:
The ransomware gang accused of crippling the leading US fuel pipeline operator has said it never meant to create havoc, an unusual statement that experts said was a sign the cyber criminals' scheme had gone awry.
[...] The terse news release posted to DarkSide's website early on Monday did not directly mention Colonial Pipeline but, under the heading "About the latest news", noted that "our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society".
Also at MSN.com, Bloomberg, and New York Daily News.
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