Biden Has ‘No Comment’ On Colonial Pipeline Paying Nearly $5 Million In Ransom
President Joe Biden was asked if he was briefed on Colonial Pipeline Co. paying nearly $5 million in ransom to Eastern European hackers and responded, “I have no comment on that.”
Bloomberg released a report on Thursday that Colonial Pipeline paid the hackers who compromised the energy company’s pipeline system.
Biden when asked if he was briefed on Colonial Pipeline Co. paying ransom to attackers:
"I have no comment on that." pic.twitter.com/dMH0QuzV6I
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 13, 2021
According to information from two sources related to the case, the gas, diesel, and jet fuel corporation compensated the ransom to a hacker group named DarkSide earlier this week.
The deposit resulted in the reopening of the pipeline on Wednesday afternoon, but due to the outage, it may take many days for supplies to return to normal across the southeast.
“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,” Bloomberg wrote Thursday.
According to the outlet, the corporation paid the ransom in “untraceable cryptocurrency,” and the Biden administration was aware that the company decided to transfer the $5 million to hackers the White House suggested might be Russian or connected with Russia on Wednesday.
The group claims they are not associated with any government and that their motivation is largely financial rather than political, and that they were responsible for locking up Colonial Pipeline’s servers on Monday.
Colonial Pipeline, according to media reports earlier this week, has no intention of paying the approximately $5 million requested by DarkSide to reactivate the clogged server.
Fox Business reported Wednesday that “the pipeline operator refused to pay, enlisting help from the Department of Energy, as well as federal, state and local authorities instead.”
Bloomberg alleged Thursday that the reports were incorrect.
In terms of the Biden administration, Biden said on Wednesday that he was in constant contact with Colonial Pipeline officials and was assured of the company’s success in restoring operation.
While the White House stated that it did not pressure Colonial Pipeline to pay a ransom, a deputy National Security Advisor revealed on Monday that “companies are often in a difficult position if their data is encrypted and they do not have backups and cannot recover the data.”
The FBI advises against offering a ransom to hackers that that would just enable further hacks.
Colonial Pipeline, the US government, and American consumers are still recovering from Friday’s assault, which “impacted fuel deliveries and triggered instances of panic-buying amid concerns of a shortage,”
According to Fox Business, “several governors declared states of emergency in response to the crisis.”
Gas rates soared to seven-year highs in some regions, and fuel was virtually scarce that resulted in long lines and hours-long waits for gasoline.
I was lucky to get some gas today, had to wait an hour in line #GasShortage ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/AYWBq9fGkq
— Lin (@LinderlyB) May 11, 2021
GREENSBORO NC, 25 CAR LINE TO GET GAS
45 MINUTE WAIT pic.twitter.com/Zc2Ra8bPbR
— Souled Idea (@SouledIdea) May 11, 2021
The Biden administration has come under fire for how it handled the situation.
The White House reported yesterday that it will answer to the shortage by creating a blue-ribbon committee to look at the possibility of forming a second committee to establish legislation for Congress that would enable the administration to override some trading sanctions in the case of another hacking incident.
According to The Verge, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at stopping any hacking incidents.
“The executive order outlines a number of initiatives, including reducing barriers to information sharing between the government and the private sector, mandating the deployment of multi-factor authentication in the federal government, establishing a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, and creating a standardized playbook for responding to ‘cyber incidents,’” the outlet reported.
