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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 10 Mei 2021

Cyberattack on US pipeline is linked to criminal gang

vestigation, speaking on condition of investigation said that the attackers firm Coveware, which helps victims
anonymity, identified the culprit as also stole data from the company, respond.
DarkSide. It is among ransomware presumably for extortion purposes.
gangs that have "professionalized" a Sometimes stolen data is more valu- David Kennedy, founder and senior
criminal industry that has cost West- able to ransomware criminals than principal security consultant at Trust-
ern nations tens of billions of dollars the leverage they gain by crippling a edSec, said that once a ransomware
in losses in the past three years. network, because some victims are attack is discovered, companies have
loath to see sensitive information of little recourse but to completely re-
DarkSide claims that it does not at- theirs dumped online. build their infrastructure, or pay the
tack medical, educational or govern- ransom.
ment targets — only large corpora- Security experts said the attack should
(AP) — The cyberextortion at- tions — and that it donates a portion be a warning for operators of critical "Ransomware is absolutely out of
tempt that has forced the shut- of its take to charity. It has been active infrastructure — including electri- control and one of the biggest threats
down of a vital U.S. pipeline was since August and, typical of the most cal and water utilities and energy and we face as a nation," Kennedy said.
carried out by a criminal gang potent ransomware gangs, is known transportation companies — that not "The problem we face is most com-
known as DarkSide that culti- to avoid targeting organizations in investing in updating their security panies are grossly underprepared to
vates a Robin Hood image of former Soviet bloc nations. puts them at risk of catastrophe. face these threats."
stealing from corporations and Colonial did not say whether it has
giving a cut to charity, a person paid or was negotiating a ransom, and Ed Amoroso, CEO of TAG Cyber, Colonial transports gasoline, diesel,
close to the investigation said DarkSide neither announced the at- said Colonial was lucky its attacker jet fuel and home heating oil from
Sunday. tack on its dark web site nor respond- was at least ostensibly motivated refineries on the Gulf Coast through
ed to an Associated Press reporter's only by profit, not geopolitics. State- pipelines running from Texas to New
The shutdown, meanwhile, stretched queries. The lack of acknowledgment backed hackers bent on more serious Jersey. Its pipeline system spans more
into its third day, with the Biden ad- usually indicates a victim is either ne- destruction use the same intrusion than 5,500 miles, transporting more
ministration saying an "all-hands-on- gotiating or has paid. methods as ransomware gangs. than 100 million gallons a day.
deck" effort is underway to restore
operations and avoid disruptions in Commerce Secretary Gina Raimon- "For companies vulnerable to ran- Debnil Chowdhury at the research
the fuel supply. do said Sunday that ransomware at- somware, it's a bad sign because they firm IHSMarkit said that if the out-
tacks are "what businesses now have are probably more vulnerable to more age stretches to one to three weeks,
Experts said that gasoline prices are to worry about," and that she will serious attacks," he said. Russian cy- gas prices could begin to rise.
unlikely to be affected if the pipeline work "very vigorously" with the berwarriors, for example, crippled
is back to normal in the next few days Homeland Security Department to the electrical grid in Ukraine during "I wouldn't be surprised, if this ends
but that the incident — the worst address the problem, calling it a top the winters of 2015 and 2016. up being an outage of that magni-
cyberattack to date on critical U.S. priority for the administration. tude, if we see 15- to 20-cent rise in
infrastructure — should serve as a Cyberextortion attempts in the U.S. gas prices over next week or two," he
wake-up call to companies about the "Unfortunately, these sorts of at- have become a death-by-a-thou- said.
vulnerabilities they face. tacks are becoming more frequent," sands-cuts phenomenon in the past
she said on CBS' "Face the Nation." year, with attacks on hospitals forcing The Justice Department has a new
The pipeline, operated by Georgia- "We have to work in partnership with delays in cancer treatment, interrupt- task force dedicated to countering
based Colonial Pipeline, carries gaso- business to secure networks to de- ing schooling and paralyzing police ransomware attacks.
line and other fuel from Texas to the fend ourselves against these attacks." and city governments.
Northeast. It delivers roughly 45% of While the U.S. has not suffered any
fuel consumed on the East Coast, ac- She said President Joe Biden was Tulsa, Oklahoma, this week became serious cyberattacks on its critical
cording to the company. briefed on the attack. the 32nd state or local government in infrastructure, officials say Russian
the U.S. to come under ransomware hackers in particular are known to
It was hit by what Colonial called a "It's an all-hands-on-deck effort right attack, said Brett Callow, a threat ana- have infiltrated some crucial sectors,
ransomware attack, in which hackers now," Raimondo said. "And we are lyst with the cybersecurity firm Em- positioning themselves to do damage
typically lock up computer systems working closely with the company, sisoft. if armed conflict were to break out.
by encrypting data and then demand state and local officials to make sure
a large ransom to release it. The com- that they get back up to normal oper- Average ransoms paid in the U.S. Iranian hackers have also been aggres-
pany has not said what was demanded ations as quickly as possible and there jumped nearly threefold to more sive in trying to gain access to utili-
or who made the demand. aren't disruptions in supply." than $310,000 last year. The average ties, factories and oil and gas facilities.
downtime for victims of ransomware In one case in 2013, they broke into
However, the person close to the in- The person close to the Colonial attacks is 21 days, according to the the control system of a U.S. dam.

Times Square gun victim: I screamed 'I don't want to die'

(AP) — A woman who was enth Avenue. A 4-year-old a suspect. A video posted by wouldn't do any surgery or she "never thought would
shot in Times Square dur- girl from Brooklyn was shot the Police Department on take out the bullet, just be- happen in Times Square with
ing a Mother's Day trip to in the leg and a 43-year-old Twitter showed a person of cause it would do more dam- so many families around,"
New York City with her woman from New Jersey was interest walking away from age," she said. adding, "The person who did
family said that she prayed shot in the foot, police said. the scene. She told the Daily News that this is an insane person."
that her wound would not None of them is related to
be fatal. the others. All were reported Mayor Bill de Blasio called
to be in stable condition. the shooting "senseless vio-
"I was literally screaming on lence" and promised that
the floor, 'I don't want to die, Police Commissioner Der- those responsible would be
I don't want to die, I have a mot Shea said during a Satur- brought to justice. "The flood
2-year-old,'" Wendy Magri- day evening news conference of illegal guns into our city
nat, a 23-year-old Rhode Is- that the victims were shot must stop," the mayor said on
land resident, told the Daily following a dispute involving Twitter.
News. "at least two to four" people.
"It is during this dispute that Magrinat told TV station
Magrinat was one of three by- at least one person pulls out a WNBC that she will likely
standers hit by bullets shortly gun," Shea said. have a bullet lodged in her
before 5 p.m. Saturday near leg for the rest of her life.
West 44th Street and Sev- Police are still searching for "The doctors said that they