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The DarkSide hacker gang that is responsible for the devastating Colonial Pipeline attack this weekend is a relatively new group, but cybersecurity analysts already know enough about them to determine just how dangerous they are. According to Boston-based Cybereason, DarkSide is an organized group of hackers set up along the “ransomware as a service” business model, meaning the DarkSide hackers develop and market ransomware hacking tools, and sell them to other criminals who then carry out attacks. Think of it as the evil twin of a Silicon Valley software start-up. Bloomberg first reported that DarkSide may be involved in the...

US lawmakers have recently begun discussing the need for a federal plan to find out what types of cash payments are made after ransomware attacks. Cyberattacks have been ramping up in recent months, with each one underscoring the nation’s under-preparedness. The digital infrastructure of private companies and government organizations have plenty of vulnerabilities, and their responses to damaging attacks have been frantically improvised. Worsening the situation are the significant delays in responding to cyberattacks, an inevitable consequence of the fact that the federal government has no uniform approach to combating malicious hackers. In May 2021, $4.4 million in Bitcoin was...

Among many claimed benefits, cryptocurrencies supposedly offer two significant benefits over fiat currencies: 1) autonomy and 2) discretion. This past week, the U.S. federal government took them both down. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a press statement that it had seized $2.3 million in cryptocurrency. The seizure was the result of the FBI's Colonial Pipeline investigation. As a reminder, Colonial Pipeline, the U.S.'s largest pipeline for refined oil products, was the victim of a cyberattack. Against the U.S.'s wishes and policies, Colonial Pipeline paid millions in ransom to retake control of the pipeline. According to the FBI, they had...

It's nationwide knowledge that in early May the Colonial Pipeline company suffered a severe cyberattack that shut down its pipeline connecting Texas to the East Coast. On June 1, JBS Foods suffered another crippling cyberattack. According to industry estimates, JBS controls 20 percent of the slaughtering capacity for American cattle and hogs. The JBS attack also generated headlines. The FBI and security officials believe two criminal organizations conducted the attacks. Their names sound a bit like those of the sinister super gangs found in James Bond novels. However, these gangs aren't fiction nor are their crimes. A crime group called...

The seizure of funds paid by Colonial Pipeline to a Russian hacker ring, DarkSide, marks the first recovery by a new ransomware Justice Department task force.

...Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 Bitcoins, now valued at about $2.3 million, paid by Colonial (COLPI.UL) after last month's hack of its systems that led to massive shortages at U.S. East Coast gas stations....An affidavit filed on Monday said the FBI was in possession of a private key to unlock the hackers' Bitcoin wallet. It was unclear how the FBI gained access to this key...."Today, we've turned the tables on DarkSide," said Monaco, referring to a ransomware group widely believed to have been behind the crippling fuel pipeline attack.

Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson is more concerned about a cyberattack crippling the government than another Jan. 6-type assault on the Capitol, she said in an interview aired Saturday on CNN. “Our networks ... have attempted intrusions every single day. And so, cybersecurity for me is a much greater concern than the prospect of thousands of people storming the West Terrace,” Gibson said. Gibson’s comments come in wake of several significant cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure, including a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline that crippled East Coast fuel supply last month and another on a major U.S. meat...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the cyberattack suffered by the Colonial Pipeline Company “an act of war” and said the U.S. should respond by killing whoever was responsible for it.“We ought to pass a law immediately that makes this kind of hacking subject to a death penalty, and the law should include a provision that the president, through a judicial process, should be able to order the killing of anybody overseas who’s doing this,” Mr. Gingrich, a Republican, said Monday on Fox News while speaking about the ransomware attack that recently disrupted the Colonial Pipeline system.Mr. Gingrich, 77, who...

The Biden administration is revoking the permit for a United States oil company, Delta Crescent Energy, that has been operating in northeastern Syria, as reported by Al-Monitor. Delta Crescent Energy is working with local Kurdish and Sunni Arab interests to develop the local economy and provide much-needed investment... In contrast, Biden's removal of the waiver is yet another gift to Putin. I say "yet another gift" for a good reason. After all, the last few weeks have seen Biden turn himself into the Russian president's delivery man. Even as more evidence is gathered on highly aggressive Russian attacks against U.S....

This is crazy. I stopped for gas just now having no idea what was happening. It’s out. People here told me they’d been to other stations and found the same. pic.twitter.com/7LDVdUXPo4

The cyberattack upon the Colonial Pipeline on Friday, May 7, 2021 has resulted in the shutdown of a major conduit that provides 45 percent of the fuel for the eastern United States. It is 5,500 miles of pipeline stretching from Texas to New Jersey, servicing 14 states and 7 airports directly. It handles 100 million gallons of fuel daily. Its closure marks a serious attack on the domestic infrastructure of the United States and has exposed another critical shortfall within the nation, the lack of sufficient domestic tanker and coastal transportation resources to temporarily supplement the shutdown. While many see...

The Colonial Pipeline is reportedly facing more issues. A Reuters reporter wrote the company is "experiencing network issues impacting customers' ability to enter and update nominations." "Our internal IT department is aware of the issue and working to resolve as quickly as possible," Reuters' Devika Krishna Kumar quoted the company as saying on her Twitter account on Friday. Colonial also reported said communication from its systems to Transport4 may also be affected. Transport4 is a business utility used by the pipeline industry to enter, manage and track shipments. Colonial is the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the...

Unlike Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, Russia, Russia… Biden’s is not imaginary but very real and in your face. Democrats could never say what exactly Trump did, what precise decision was made, or what policy was changed. He “colluded,” don’t ya know. With Biden, we can start with the Colonial Pipeline hack by Russian conspirators and Biden’s non-reaction to it, Biden’s approval of a pipeline designed to make our NATO allies dependent on energy from Moscow, and, of course, his day-one cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Trump promised Europe a share in our energy independence including building liquefied natural...

Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo, who on Friday declared “gas is over,” is pushing for the closure of more oil pipelines around the country just days after several states experienced gas shortages due to the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline following a cyberattack. Mark Ruffalo tweeted his message Friday, blaming former President Donald Trump for “rubber stamping” so many “risky” pipelines. He encouraged his fans to follow a campaign called “Stop Trump Pipelines,” which is pressuring the Biden administration to shut down the Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as other pipeline projects.

nlike Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, Russia, Russia, Biden’s is not imaginary but very real and in your face. Democrats could never say what exactly Trump did, what precise decision was made or what policy was changed. He “colluded”, don’t ya know,. With Biden, we can start with the Colonial pipeline hack by Russian conspirators and Biden’s non-reaction to it, Biden;s approval of a pipeline designed make our NATO allies dependent on energy from Moscow, and, of course, his day one cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Trump promised Europe a share in our energy independence, to the oint of...

“I've given up expecting Michael to do the right thing. Or the decent thing. Or even the comprehensible thing.” -Dwight, The Office (2011)It has been hard, during the recent gas shortage in parts of the U.S., to feel too bad for the people it’s afflicted. They have swallowed every piece of climate dogma hook, line, and sinker; they have voted resoundingly for failed Democrat policies over and over and again; they rejected the energy independence of President Trump for a zombie politician hellbent on making Jimmy Carter look like he did a good job. Granted, the recent havoc wreaked because...

NEW YORK — Colonial Pipeline is having network issues preventing shippers from planning upcoming shipments of fuel, the company said on Tuesday, just after the system reopened after a week-long ransomware attack.

Cybercrime group DarkSide said it has lost control of its web servers and some of the money it’s made off ransom payments after the FBI confirmed that the gang was behind the $5 million ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline last week that spurred gas shortages and panic buying across the Southeast.Analysts at security research firm FireEye said that messages are circulating in multiple cybercriminal forums that say DarkSide has shut down amid pressure from the US and law enforcement.“A few hours ago, we lost access to the public part of our infrastructure, namely: Blog. Payment server. DOS servers,” read a...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a Friday interview that the only reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its masking rules for vaccinated Americans was to distract people from the skyrocketing gas prices. The rising gas prices were in response to high fuel demand following the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline Company. Colonial Pipeline Company operates the largest fuel pipeline in the United States — providing roughly half of all diesel and gasoline on the East Coast — and became aware of a cyberattack from hackers linked to a group called DarkSide last Friday, promptly shutting...

The Lewis Country Store in Nashville, Tennessee is making massive waves with a giant screen broadcasting memes slamming the Biden administration over gas prices. Among the memes are photos of a laughing Tucker Carlson, an empty gas gauge with the Biden/Harris logo, and a meme of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, smoking crack in a bathtub. “Hope gas prices don’t get too high,” one side of the meme reads. The other side is captioned “gas prices,” with the Biden family photo.