The Colonial Pipeline may be back up and running by the end of the week, the pipeline’s operator said Monday, while Biden administration officials said they are preparing for “multiple possible contingencies” to deal with any major disruptions to the nation’s energy supply.
The massive pipeline, which delivers roughly 45% of all fuel used on the East Coast, has been offline since Friday after a ransomware attack by the criminal cyber gang DarkSide. As authorities and intelligence agencies investigate the assault, the Colonial Pipeline Company said it has a plan to gradually bring its system back online.
“While this situation remains fluid and continues to evolve, the Colonial operations team is executing a plan that involves an incremental process that will facilitate a return to service in a phased approach,” the company said in a statement. “This plan is based on a number of factors with safety and compliance driving our operational decisions, and the goal of substantially restoring operational service by the end of the week. The company will provide updates as restoration efforts progress.”
The federal government already has taken some steps to minimize disruptions to the nation’s energy supply, such as issuing hours-of-service exemptions for vehicles transporting fuel. White House officials said they’re preparing other steps.
“We are preparing for multiple possible contingencies because that’s our job,” Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, White House deputy national security adviser, told reporters Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the FBI confirmed DarkSide’s involvement on Monday and White House officials later said that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating potential “ties to any nation-state actors,” such as Russia. The hacker group is believed to be based in eastern Europe, possibly Russia, though top Russian officials on Monday denied any involvement.
In its own statement, DarkSide stressed it is not affiliated with any government.
Still, administration officials said the U.S. is looking for any such connections.
“At this time, we assess DarkSide is a criminal actor, but that is certainly something our intelligence community is looking into,” said Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies.
