Colonial Pipeline restarts operations after ransomware attack; will move as much fuel as possible until markets return to normal.

Engadget ^ | 13 May 2021 | Mariella Moon

[Spktyr]

Yeah, no. Chances are good that it *started* with the billing system and spread to the pipeline control systems, though.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Good article. There is no way that I'm buying into the internet of things. If I did that, heaven only knows what the American nomenklatura could do to my refrigerator, stove, etc., once I came onto their radar.

[mdmathis6]

That’s the confusing part of the story. The news reports say that the Company spokesmen said that the Company shut the pipeline down as a precaution due to the cyberattack. So what ever happened to the front end systems, if you go by what was announced, the machinery control systems weren’t shut down by the attack but that the company chose to shut the systems down manually as a precaution. That is a different scenario than the one you are suggesting. Still what you stated makes better sense and I hope that was the case.

[Chode]

it’s mostly a rhetorical question but, thx for the reply

[Paul R.]

You don’t seem to be listening: The problem was not that the OP was hacked, the problem was that the compromised IT (billings, etc.) provided ready access to it, and if the OP was hacked or even inadvertently damaged, then you may have major problems / disruptions that could take months to repair. You DON’T wait until the OP begins to show signs of outside interference, and, Colonial did not wait, apparently

If some armed criminal busts into the next room in your house and, caught by surprise and unarmed, your best quick recourse is to dive out the back door, do you wait to see if Mr. Criminal comes in the room you are in, to see what he’ll do next? Do you calculate that “most robbers do not harm homeowners?” Or do you take no chances and dive out that door?

Now, granted that Colonial should have been much better prepared for such an attack, and the vulnerability / easy access to the OP should never have been there. THAT’s where the thought process went awry.

The “news reports” are as very often misleading (perhaps intentionally so), and then you are misinterpreting that.