Colonial Pipeline CEO Explains The Decision To Pay Hackers $4.4 Million Ransom
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Colonial Pipeline CEO Joe Blount on the ransomware attack on the pipeline's network and the decision to pay the hackers the $4.4 million ransom.
Updated June 3, 2021 at 6:35 PM ET
Last month, a cyberattack on the company Colonial Pipeline, which operates a pipeline providing nearly half the East Coast's fuel supply, triggered a massive shutdown. Hackers infiltrated its computer network and demanded more than $4 million in ransom; the company shut down the pipeline.
Colonial Pipeline made the decision to pay the ransom on the same day, and it took 6 days to restart the pipeline.
In the interim, several governors in affected states declared states of emergency and urged led to temporary outages in 11 states and Washington, D.C.
