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In reply to the discussion: Colonial Pipeline said to have no plan pay hackers ransom [View all]Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,957 posts)Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the countrys largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
The company paid the hefty ransom in untraceable cryptocurrency within hours after the attack, underscoring the immense pressure faced by the Georgia-based operator to get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again to major cities along the East Coast, those people said. A third person familiar with the situation said U.S. government officials are aware that Colonial made the payment.
Once they received the payment, the hackers provided the operator with a decrypting tool to restore its disabled computer network. The tool was so slow that the company continued using its own backups to help restore the system, one of the people familiar with the companys efforts said.
A representative from Colonial declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/colonial-pipeline-paid-hackers-nearly-dollar5-million-in-ransom-sources-say/ar-BB1gHobz