Emergency Declaration Issued For 17 States In Wake Of Cyberattack On Colonial Pipeline

On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an emergency declaration for 17 states and the District of Columbia in the wake of a cyberattack on the Colonial pipeline on Friday. The declaration permitted fuel to be transported by road to Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

One expert told Politico the ransomware attack was “the most significant and successful attack on energy infrastructure we know of in the United States.” Politico reported, “The attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which runs 5,500 miles and provides nearly half the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel used on the East Coast, most immediately affected some of the company’s business-side computer systems — not the systems that directly run the pipelines themselves. The Georgia-based company said it shut down the pipelines as a precaution and has engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate the incident.”