Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wired: Colonial Pipeline’s Ransomware Payoff Keeps Infrastructure ‘in the Crosshairs
Breitbart ^ | 14May | Nolan

Posted on 05/14/2021 8:37:09 AM PDT by qaz123

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last
To: qaz123

wrote on another thread that this country is going to see a catastrophic event caused by linking power companies to the power grid and other madness similar to the Colonial set-up.

Colonial should be required to divide their capacity among several individual systems with total and absolute separation between all work force and all control systems.

That would make it almost impossible for all fuel to be shut down at the same time.

Now that everyone has seen the danger of a huge system handling so much fuel, it is time to reduce the volume though the pipelines and build a trucking systen to transport the difference.


21 posted on 05/14/2021 9:43:33 AM PDT by old curmudgeon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: qaz123
This is ridiculous. So, a major pipeline not only has no way to manually bypass their computerized controls, but their IT people are so inept that they have no backups from which to restore/revert their systems to the pre-ransomewear state?

None of this makes any sense.

22 posted on 05/14/2021 9:52:32 AM PDT by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

One of my clients provides energy for a large section of the United States. Could they be exploited and subject to hackers? - without a doubt. The amount of automation, networking, etc... keeps everything going. It would take thousands of hours to replicate and get working correctly to bring everything back to pre-hack levels.


23 posted on 05/14/2021 9:57:04 AM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

Gas is one thing - but think an electric grid hack. I think it would be much more devastating and harder as the manual controls you speak of are less in an electric grid.


24 posted on 05/14/2021 9:59:16 AM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Sicon
when you put everything in the cloud, which many companies now do, you could be prevented from accessing that cloud to get your backup and other info via different means.

No matter how hard and costly it is, there needs to always be a manual backup of some sort for business restoration.

25 posted on 05/14/2021 10:01:51 AM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

Air Traffic Control; the electric grid, local and long haul; just-in-time delivery and inventory systems for food, beverages, fuels, raw materials, manufactured goods; loading/unloading docks in major ports, and the dispatch of trucking/railroads to take from port to hinterlands; communications; banking and finance... You name it.


26 posted on 05/14/2021 10:08:58 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! ("You, the American people, are my only special interest." --President Donald J. Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: cuban leaf

“... don’t keep anything that important on my internet connected computer.”

You mean like election results.


27 posted on 05/14/2021 10:18:54 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

only a five-year-old
believes all of this story


28 posted on 05/14/2021 10:19:23 AM PDT by RockyTx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: frogjerk

Except—what is the cloud?

Other people’s rack mounted servers, networks, routers, disks, electricity, air conditioning, housing etc. You get it over the Internet—that is, the demarcation point from your internal resources to someone else’s...

BUT—why stop there? The cloud is an ambiguous term. It’s a buzzword that most people really don’t understand, especially management.

Oh we got the cloud. Yeah, the cloud. Lucky us.

So what happens when the headquarters of the nation-wide pipeline/grid/system is a small office building, as is now the case, and half of the clerical staff and most of the management is working from home, and all of the physical assets, pipes, stations, pumps, etc. are spread out hither and yon from sea to shining sea?

You bet, they’re all—big and small—connected thru the Internet. NOBODY maintains their own circuit switching anymore—it’s all packet switched.

Even the long haul guys who sell you a private circuit at some point plug into the packet-switched network—which means routers, which means Internet. Only the DoD has some circuits left that do not route thru the Internet, and I’m not even sure about them, as I retired two decades ago.


29 posted on 05/14/2021 10:20:51 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! ("You, the American people, are my only special interest." --President Donald J. Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

I don’t blame them. Now it will be easier to track them and put them in prison.

Hey Billy, I thought you were living in your mom’s basement playing video games. Where did you get the money to buy your own ISLAND!


30 posted on 05/14/2021 10:21:26 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cuban leaf

Anybody buying this “ hacker “ story with an “ infrastructure “ bill lending needs to have their head examined


31 posted on 05/14/2021 10:21:27 AM PDT by Truthoverpower (Arizona !!!! Now the TRUMP TRAIN is getting back on TRACK ! TRUTH! But Russian cyber hackers shut )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

I know for a fact that our electric grid in the interior of Alaska is a closed network. The only way to get in is physically, or engineers can call and ask permission to look at specific sections, and it times out after an hour.
How unsecured is this stuff anyway? Pretty pathetic if it’s connected to an intranet or internet.


32 posted on 05/14/2021 10:32:04 AM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qaz123
This was a test.

America's enemies know that the USA is very weak and has lost its resolve. They know

that the 2020 election was stolen;

that the President of the US is a fool, the weak puppet of a cabal whose objective is the destruction of the USA;

that wittingly or unwittingly the US Congress, Supreme Court, FBI, CIA, news media, and education systems are under the control of this cabal; and

that half the US electorate approves of this.

The success of this test means that more attacks are coming. Prepare yourself and your family.

Great civilisations are not destroyed from without, they commit suicide.

BTW, for 5 million dollars, couldn't the company hire computer experts to fix the problem and the hackers be damned?

33 posted on 05/14/2021 10:50:10 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Depravity is the evil heart of the Democrat Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

I honestly think qaz that , thats how they got it back online....valve by valve. And thats probably why it took so long to get back online. Lack of personel and hundreds of miles and valves to open. But i think they also paid the ransom because all their other crap is online (i.e.payroll, financial)


34 posted on 05/14/2021 11:09:42 AM PDT by The MAGA-Deplorian (Democrats are lawless because Republicans are ball-less)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Sicon

I think that about sums it up. Encause the folks who built and sold them the software told them this could never happen. Or, the powers that he saw all the savings and profit by firing all the old manual labor and didn’t give a f*ck.

And still don’t or won’t because they’ll never be asked for answers as to why this happened.

Russia. Russia. Russia


35 posted on 05/14/2021 11:16:32 AM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: frogjerk

10000%

But to make it even simpler. Shit down the internet for ONE day and watch generations of people around the world to into shock when they can’t get on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.

An electrical grid failure would be catastrophic.

IIRC, didn’t the current admin return access to a portion of our power grid to some Chinese controlled contractor?


36 posted on 05/14/2021 11:20:23 AM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: RockyTx

Bingo!!!

Sadly the one person who would t have let it happen or who would have took charge and come up with some solutions is living Mar A Lago now.


37 posted on 05/14/2021 11:22:47 AM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: The MAGA-Deplorian

Lots of folks have been talking about lack of personnel. That may in fact be the case.

But....I’ll put this out there:

At one time those valves were checked and monitored by a human being. Most of them, if not all of them, were replaced by technology. Unless they’re all dead, those people can be found and asked to come back, temporarily, for a generous fee. Additionally, I’m sure there are thousands of guys from the Keystone Pipeline that could use some work. Even if they aren’t pipeline valve experts, they have fundamental knowledge on how the things work, could be given a crash course at what to look for and what to do and be put out in the field to help.

As for trucks, I know the NG folks are getting tired, but there are lots of Guard and Reserve transportation assets and personnel, if needed. But the problem with that would be Colonial realizing that Uncle Sugar will be there to bail them out and it won’t cost them a dime. Kind of like Wall St doing what they want knowing that the US Treasury and taxpayer will bail them out no matter how bad they screw up.


38 posted on 05/14/2021 11:31:54 AM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

Oh sure....as long as he could tweet the solution he’d be fine😎
Nobody can just wave their magic pen and fix something like this....and I do t care who you are.

Control of pipelines and the product in them is a very controlled process...you don’t just walk in and say fix it.


39 posted on 05/14/2021 11:39:09 AM PDT by Usawatcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Truthoverpower

Not every thing is a secret plot....

And besides can anyone verify there is money in the bill that goes to states/companies for cyber security?? I’ll be surprised if there is.


40 posted on 05/14/2021 11:42:06 AM PDT by Usawatcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson