Colonial Pipeline: A Global Day of Reckoning
Compliance
Compliance
SecurityEditor) • May 11, 2021
Gregory Touhill, director, CMU SEI s CERT Division
Gregory Touhill, the retired Air Force general and former federal CISO under President Obama, minces no words when he describes the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack as a global day of reckoning for critical infrastructure protection. It s a global day of reckoning from the standpoint of seeing critical infrastructure such as this go into a gridlock because of ransomware, says Touhill, who recently was appointed director of the CERT division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Further, it s a wake-up call for governments all around the world.
Photo: Colonial Pipeline Co.
After a ransomware incident, Colonial Pipeline Co. says it has restored smaller pipelines that ship fuel to the U.S. East Coast, but its larger ones are still offline as it assesses safety.
The company ships millions of gallons per day of fuels such as gasoline, heating oil, jet and diesel from refineries in the South to East Coast destinations. The company says smaller lateral lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational, according to an update on Sunday.
Four main lines, however, still are not functioning. Those lines were voluntarily taken offline Friday by the company after it discovered ransomware. The company has not given a timeline as to when full operations will resume (see:
U.S. and U.K. cyber, law enforcement and intelligence agencies issued a joint advisory Friday offering detailed information on how to defend against the activities
Colonial Pipeline, which oversees more than 5,500 miles of pipeline that supplies fuel throughout the U.S. East Coast, confirmed Saturday that a ransomware attack
Colonial Pipeline, which oversees more than 5,500 miles of pipeline that supplies fuel throughout the U.S. East Coast, confirmed Saturday that a ransomware attack