Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipeline operators in the United States, has had to cease all operations since Friday after being the victim of a cyber attack, said the company which transports gasoline and diesel on more than 8,800 kilometers of pipelines. across the United States.
"On May 7, the Colonial Pipeline company learned that it was the victim of a cybersecurity attack
,
"
the group said in a statement.
"Shortly after learning of the attack, Colonial took some systems offline as a precaution to contain the threat,"
the company said.
"These actions have temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems, which we are actively restoring,"
the statement added.
Read also: With the SolarWinds attack, Western cybersecurity in full question
The group said on Saturday that the incident involved "ransomware" or ransomware, code that exploits security holes to encrypt computer systems and demand ransom to unlock them.
“For now, our main goal is to safely and efficiently restore our services back to normal operation
,
”
added Colonial Pipeline who said
“we are working diligently to resolve this issue and minimize disruption”
.
The attack, the most severe to date targeting an infrastructure in the United States, targets an oil pipeline distributing roughly 45% of the fuels consumed on the US East Coast. Colonial Pipeline operates a network of pipelines stretching from refineries on the Gulf Coast around Houston, Texas, to the northeastern United States in the New York area. The group says it has hired a
"leading"
cybersecurity company
to resolve the issue and has opened an investigation into the nature and scope of the incident.
"We contacted the police and other federal agencies,"
says Colonial Pipeline.
Colonial Pipeline is the largest operator of refined products pipelines in the United States, transporting more than 380 million liters of fuel oil daily to the northeast of the country. The CISA, the US Agency for Infrastructure Security and Cybersecurity, is
"in contact with the company and other partners within the institutions in this matter,"
deputy director Eric Goldstein told AFP, according to a spokesperson. The incident
"underscores the threat posed by
ransomware ('ransomware')
to organizations, regardless of their size or the sector in which they operate,"
the CISA official added in an email.
“We encourage every organization to take steps to strengthen their cybersecurity to reduce their exposure to such threats,”
he said.
Risk of shortage
According to Andy Lipow, an expert in the oil market and chairman of the consultancy firm Lipow Oil Associates,
"the region most affected is going to be Baltimore-Washington as well as the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama
.
"
"It is therefore not a problem that affects the whole country but rather the mid-Atlantic region and part of the south-east,"
he told AFP.
“The impact will depend on how long it lasts. The pipeline delivers the refined products every five days, ”
explained Andy Lipow.
“If the pipeline is closed for a day or two, that's a minor problem. If it remains out of service for four or five days, we will have shortages in the terminals which will begin to affect service stations ”
, he added. Not to mention the airports. Beyond four to five days, the airports of Baltimore, Atlanta, Charlotte or even Nashville will have to decide how to supply themselves with kerosene so that airlines can keep their flight schedules, said Andy Lipow.
On Sunday, May 9, Colonial Pipeline said to reopen only a small part of its distribution lines between terminals. A plan to restart the system is being drawn up, explained the group, which was able to restore service on side networks between terminals and delivery points. But the main lines remain inoperative.
"We will only bring our complete system back online when we believe it is safe to do so, with the green light from federal authorities,"
the company adds. Neither federal authorities nor Colonial Pipeline have given a date for a complete reopening of the system that supplies airports, terminals and gas stations from refineries around the Gulf of Mexico to the US East Coast.
Read also: Cyber attacks against hospitals: greed for hackers, danger of death for patients
The group says
"keep in touch with law enforcement and other federal agencies, including the energy ministry which coordinates the federal government's response
.
"
President Joe Biden has been informed of the situation, Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce, on CBS said on Sunday.
"We are working with local and state authorities to ensure a return to normal operations as soon as possible so that there are no disruptions in supply,"
added the Minister.
Several computer attacks have rocked the United States in recent months, including the massive hack of SolarWinds, an IT management software company, which compromised thousands of US government computer networks.
The Biden administration accused Russia of being responsible, which led to financial sanctions against Moscow and the expulsion of diplomats.
"If Sunday night, when the oil futures market reopens, the pipeline is still closed, the price per barrel will go up 3 to 5 cents,"
Andy Lipow said.
Friday, the US barrel of WTI for the month of June, had gained 0.29%, to 64.90 dollars while some operators had already heard of technical problems at Colonial Pipeline.
