Colonial Pipeline is believed to have paid a ransom of almost $5-million to the hackers that shut down its networks this week.
Although companies are discouraged from bowing to ransomware demands, it’s believed that many of them pay up in order to get their systems back up and running.
Its’ believed that the hacking group DarkSide was responsible for the attack on Colonial Pipeline, which was forced to close about 5 500 miles of pipeline which supplies about 45% of the fuel for the east coast of the US.
After seizing the data, the hackers locked the data on some computers and servers, before demanding a ransom last Friday.
Colonial’s pipeline transports 2,5-million barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel each day. The US government was forced to issue emergency legislation to allow more road deliveries to get fuel to its destinations.