The Colonial Pipeline is once again in operation following a cyberattack that cut off the gas supply for the eastern side of the United States for a number of days, as per Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Colonial Pipeline stated the following:
“Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal. Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period.
Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal.”
Hackers had set their sights on millions of dollars in ransom cash – which the pipeline operator denied them. He sought help from the Department of Energy, federal, state, and local authorities. Recently, Colonial had gone back to partial manual control operations, according to a statement from Deputy Energy Secretary Dave Turk.
We just got off the phone with #ColonialPipeline CEO. They are restarting pipeline operations today at ~5pm. More soon.
— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) May 12, 2021
The company said safety would be their “primary focus” after the reset.
The pipeline will be making a series of safety assessments to make sure everything is in line with federal guidelines.
“This is the first step in the restart process and would not have been possible without the around-the-clock support of Colonial Pipeline’s dedicated employees who have worked tirelessly to help us achieve this milestone,” they said.
The hacker hit, which is believed to have been executed by Russian hacking group Darkside, targeted a 5500-mile pipeline in charge of over 100 million gallons of fuel per day – which is about half of the East Coast’s supply.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the Colonial pipeline cyberattack and the Texas power grid failure were "two major wake-up call experiences" in 2021 that showed the U.S. must "make sure that we have the most resilient and flexible infrastructure for the future" pic.twitter.com/trwBqGYdpP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 12, 2021
The pipeline had to shut some of its systems last week due to the attack.
The shutdown had an impact on deliveries and caused people to make panic purchases as they were concerned about an upcoming shortage. A number of governors declared states of emergency in response to the situation.
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