Cyber Defense eMagazine July 2021 Edition

Uncovering the Dark Side of the Colonial Pipeline Attack
By Alon Nachmany, Director of Customer Success AppViewX
The Colonial Pipeline, which stretches more than 5,500 miles from Houston to New York and provides
the eastern United States with almost half of its diesel, gas, and jet fuel, was shuttered after a ransomware
cyber-attack. The attack was carried out by DarkSide, a cyber-criminal gang that attacks privately-owned
businesses and donates a portion of what they take to charity. DarkSide also sells the ransomware they
develop to other cyber-criminals who can then use it to carry out attacks in exchange for part of the profit.
The impact of the attack hasn’t been catastrophic; there were some spikes in price in some states and
some gas stations did run out of gas. The national average gas price rose by two cents, and the more
significant effects have been a result of people's panic buying fuel and businesses making attempts to
save fuel. But the attack has highlighted just how vulnerable both the pipeline and the American energy
systems are.
The Colonial Pipeline is nearly 60 years old. Over time, expansions and loops have been added to the
pipeline to increase its capacity and make the process more high-tech and automated. Today, the
company uses pumps, thermostats, sensors, and valves to monitor and control the pipeline, and a robot
to inspect the thousands of miles of pipeline and find and report any anomalies. All of these technologies
are connected to a central system that was targeted by DarkSide. Colonial has the pipeline back up and
running and is now working closely with the Energy Department to ensure that something like this does
not happen again.
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