Colonial Gasoline Pipeline Hacked From New York to Texas

Mya Miller
Lion’s Roar Staff

On Friday morning, May 7, 2021, the Colonial Pipeline Co., a pipeline stretching from
New York to Texas, shut down following a cyberattack.
The Colonial Pipeline, 5,500 miles long, is the largest gasoline pipeline in the United
States and supplies about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast.
Since the shut down of the pipeline, gasoline prices have risen drastically in several
Southeast and lower mid-Atlantic states. On May 11, 2021, gasoline in Georgia rose to $3.10 per
gallon. Some gas stations even limited the amount of intake to 10 gallons per vehicle. But, many
towns and states were simply out of gasoline, such as Virginia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Given that the pipeline will take at least a few
more days to come back into service, prices at the pump are surging as demand climbs and
inventories of gasoline are reduced in states expected to be particularly hard-hit, including
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.”
Ariyana Ward, a 19-year-old college student in Virginia Beach, spoke to The New York
Times regarding the 45 minute wait she endured just for gas. “There’s no gas, and people are
getting frustrated,” With some motorists taking time to fill cans as well as cars, she said, “people
are getting into shouting matches.”
Not only has this disrupted gasoline prices, but it has also left several airlines in the South
vulnerable without jet fuel.
According to The New York Times, “Colonial Pipeline, the company that operates the
pipeline, has said it hopes to restore most operations by the end of the week. The attack, which
the Federal Bureau of Investigation said had been carried out by an organized-crime group called
DarkSide, has highlighted the vulnerability of the American energy system. The pipeline
provides the Eastern United States with nearly half its transportation fuel.”
A lot about this cyber attack and how it occured has not been explained by Colonial
Pipeline Co., itself. They have shared no information about the subject thus far. It has also not
yet been explained whether the company found any evidence that the malware placed in its data
systems could migrate to the operations of the pipeline. All the public knows is that by the end of
next week everything should hopefully be back to normal.