A cyber attack has forced the shutdown of one of the largest gas pipelines in the United States, in what appears to be a major attempt to disrupt the country’s vulnerable energy infrastructure.
System operator Colonial Pipeline revealed in a statement that it has shut down its 8,000 km of pipelines, which it says carry 45% of the East Coast’s fuel supply, in an attempt to contain the breach in its computer networks.
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“In response, we have proactively taken some systems offline to contain the threat, which temporarily halted all pipeline operations, and affected some of our IT systems,” the company said.
Colonial added that it had hired a third-party cybersecurity company to launch an investigation into “the nature and scope of this incident” and also contacted the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The attack comes amid growing concern about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in US critical infrastructure, following recent incidents, including the attack on Solarwinds.
The Biden administration last month launched a plan to strengthen the cybersecurity of the national electricity grid, calling on industry leaders to install technologies that could thwart attacks on the electricity supply.
(With MAP)
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