The perpetrator of the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline Company, causing it to temporarily suspend operations which supply 45% of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the eastern seaboard, has yet to be identified. Federal cybersecurity authorities, the FBI and private IT security companies are performing forensic analyses of the cyber breach.
Coming on the heels of Russia's massive SolarWinds cyber attack and U.S. sanctions against Russia for that attack, one could speculate that this was a response from the Kremlin to the Biden Administration. We don't know yet, and there are other bad actors, both nations and groups that are capable of a sophisticated cyber attack on our infrastructure. It's less likely that it's teenagers playing cyber pirate with the pipeline company.
Last month, the Biden Administration announced a 100 day plan to increase cybersecurity defenses for the nation's electric grid working with the electric utility industry. In addition, they will be prioritizing $1 billion in funds appropriated as part of the economic stimulus package earlier this year for cybersecurity modernization at the Federal level. That's in addition to the $500 million requested this year for Federal cybersecurity measures. It would help if the Administration's $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal prioritized more funding to counter the inevitable cyber attacks from bad actors in the weeks, months and years ahead.
(photo: Brett Carlson for NBC News)
