In early May, Colonial Pipelines, a major US energy company, suffered a cyberattack: hackers stole data from the company’s information network and demanded a ransom in exchange for control of the lost data. To avoid further incidents, the company suspended its operation of the pipeline for five days. Unlike recent high-profile cyberattacks such as election meddling or SolarWinds, the Colonial Pipelines hack was not tied to the so-called activities of Russian state security agencies. Despite the fact that non-political cybercrimes involving Russian hackers occur on a regular basis in the United States, it is the Colonial Pipelines hack that got special attention from the American government.
School Authors: Steve Fetter
Other Authors: Charles L. Glaser, James M. Acton