The Biden administration has a problem on their hands. The shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline by the Russian gang DarkSide has put them in a position where they have to set the tone for the future cyberattacks that are most certainly coming.
On Monday, Biden said he and his team was prepared to take additional steps to deal with this huge problem. Currently, the 5,500 mile pipeline system that is the main supplier of gasoline on the East Coast is shut down. Colonial Pipeline is the time of a ransomware attack.
The Department of Energy is headed up the federal government response along with the FBI, Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.
Biden said Monday that he has not seen intelligence that supports claims the the attack was okayed by Moscow, but he said he will discuss the situation with Vladimir Putin.
“So far there is no evidence from our intelligence people that Russia is involved although there is evidence that the actor’s ransomware is in Russia, they have some responsibility to deal with this.”
Word is the attack is financially motivated, and so far there’s no word if Colonia has paid whatever monetary ransom demand that has been made.
In the past, the FBI has cautioned victims of ransomware attacks against paying the ransom because it could encourage the crooks to continue to target other companies.
Colonial Pipeline did issue a statement Monday saying they hope to have service restored by the end of the week.
Part of the $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Biden is trying to push through Congress has funds directed to help deal with this treat in the future.
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