When Colonial Pipeline was hit by a ransomware attack in early May 2021, there could not have been a clearer sign that utilities are still acutely vulnerable to cyberattack — and that it’s not only their operating technology (OT) systems that are being targeted.
It didn’t take long to discover it was the corporate IT network that had been breached. Colonial pre-emptively shut down its OT side to prevent the attack from spreading —
sparking a momentary national crisis by temporarily stopping the supply of nearly half the gas, diesel, and jet fuel piped to the East Coast of the U.S.