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Is Your Business Prepared For A Ransomware Attack?
On May 8, 2021 Colonial Pipeline, an operator of a major gasoline pipeline based in Alpharetta, Georgia, fell victim to a major cyber-attack resulting in the shutdown of all its pipeline operations. Colonial Pipeline currently supplies approximately 45% of the fuel supply to the US East Coast. It is unknown at the present time how long the pipeline operations will be down, if they are down for an extended period this would likely affect the price of gasoline.
Colonial Pipeline was attacked by a ransomware threat. Ransomware is a type of malware that will target data and hold it hostage until the demands of the hacker are met. Sometimes ransomware can also lock down a system and block access to systems until demands are met.
Typically, the demands of the hacker are financial and will require the payment of a sum of money until the data is released or access to the systems is restored. Colonial Pipeline has not released any details on the specifics behind their attack other than they were attacked by ransomware and are moving quickly to resolve the cyber-attack and restore operations.