Cyber criminals hit major fuel pipeline in US

Cyber criminals recently attacked one of the largest fuel pipelines in the US, prompting an immediate shutdown by its operator Colonial Pipeline, Indo-Asian News Service reports.

Colonial Pipeline, which carries 45 per cent of the fuel supplies for the eastern US, said in a statement that it took "certain systems offline to contain the threat, which has temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems."

According to The New York Times, the pipeline is 8850 kms long and carries jet fuel and refined gasoline from the Gulf Coast to New York, transporting some 2.5 million barrels daily.

Media reports said it was a ransomware attack but the identity of the cyber attackers could not be established.

"Colonial Pipeline is taking steps to understand and resolve this issue. At this time, our primary focus is the safe and efficient restoration of our service and our efforts to return to normal operation," the company said in a statement on 8 May.

"This process is already underway, and we are working diligently to address this matter and to minimise disruption to our customers and those who rely on Colonial Pipeline," it added.

US-based third-party cyber security firms were engaged to probe the nature and scope of the incident.

The cyber attack on the fuel pipeline is a huge one after the SolarWinds software attack.

In the cyber-attack after SolarWinds, at least 30,000 organisations across the US, including government and commercial firms, were hacked by China-based threat actors who used Microsoft's Exchange Server software to enter their networks.