In a statement, Colonial Pipeline explained the attack occurred on Friday and further affected some of its data technology systems. The company defines itself as the biggest refined products pipeline in the United States. It says it is responsible for transporting over 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through a pipeline system crossing more than 5,500 miles between Texas and New Jersey.
The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company explained it asked for the services of an outside cybersecurity company to examine the nature and scope of the attack and has further contacted law enforcement and federal agencies.
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"Colonial Pipeline is taking steps to understand and resolve this issue," the company said in a late Friday statement. "At this time, our primary focus is the safe and efficient restoration of our service and our efforts to return to normal operation. This process is already underway, and we are working diligently to address this matter and to minimize disruption to our customers and those who rely on Colonial Pipeline."
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The exact nature of the incident was unclear, including who started the attack and what the reasons were.
The FBI and the White House's National Security Council did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency referred questions regarding the event to the company.
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A hacker's botched effort to poison the water supply of a small Florida city raised alarms regarding how unsafe the nation’' critical infrastructure might be to attacks by more sophisticated invaders.
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Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration's deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and developing technology, explained in an interview with The Associated Press in April the government was beginning a new effort to help electric services, water districts, and other critical industries guard against possibly damaging cyberattacks. She said the aim was to guarantee that control systems serving 50,000 or more Americans have the core technology to identify and block malicious cyber activity.
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Since then, the White House has declared a 100-day initiative directed at defending the nation's electricity system from cyberattacks by urging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to advance their capabilities for recognizing cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The Justice Department has further announced a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks in which data is seized by hackers who demand payment from victims in order to release it.
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