Restarting U.S. Pipeline Hit by Cyberattack May Not Be Easy
- Experts warn Colonial will struggle without all its systems
- Prolonged outage would raise questions over gasoline supplies
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The unprecedented shutdown of one of the largest U.S. pipelines after it was crippled by a cyberattack has triggered warnings of major disruption to fuel supplies and concern that its restart will be neither quick nor straightforward.
Colonial Pipeline turned off key systems late Friday after an attack involving ransomware, and was still down late Saturday. There are few precise details about what happened at Colonial, which says it normally transports about 45% of all the fuel consumed on the East Coast and in the Northeast. It says it’s working to return to normal. Various branches of the U.S. government are monitoring the situation.