Washington:
Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom to hackers soon after a cyberattack mainly because it was “the right thing to do for the country,” the US company’s head stated, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday.
Joseph Blount told the newspaper he recognized the payment was a “highly controversial decision,” but that it was a essential action provided the debilitating influence of the multi-day shutdown on the United States.
“I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this,” Mr Blount told the publication. “But it was the right thing to do for the country.”
His remarks quantity to the 1st public acknowledgement by the business of the ransom payment.
Colonial announced last Thursday it had restarted operations and resumed fuel deliveries to all markets soon after finishing shutting down the line on May 7 following the cyberattack.
The pipeline’s shutdown brought on panic acquiring in the eastern United States and a spike in gasoline rates as Washington waived clean air regulations and guidelines on shipping and trucking to alleviate shortages.
Unknown actors last Friday shut down the servers of Russia-based cyber-extortionist Darkside, which was behind the ransomware scam.
After generating the ransom payment on the evening of May 7, Colonial Pipeline received a decryption tool from the hackers. The ransom payment was made in bitcoin, the Journal reported, citing a particular person familiar with the matter.
While the pipeline’s flow has returned to standard, the episode will expense Colonial tens of millions of further dollars to absolutely restore the operations more than a matter of months, Mr Blount told the newspaper.
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