Both Bloomberg and Fox Business News are reporting that Colonial Pipeline paid hackers millions of dollars in ransom money to help unlock its network.
Rumors travel quickly in this era of social media, but here is what Bloomberg is saying:
"Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country's largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
The company paid the hefty ransom in difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency within hours after the attack, underscoring the immense pressure faced by the Georgia-based operator to get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again to major cities along the Eastern Seaboard, those people said. A third person familiar with the situation said U.S. government officials are aware that Colonial made the payment.
Once they received the payment, the hackers provided the operator with a decrypting tool to restore its disabled computer network. The tool was so slow that the company continued using its own backups to help restore the system, one of the people familiar with the company's efforts said."
The original ransom demand, according to Fox Business News, was reportedly around $100 million. The ransomware attack demands are typically a starting point for negotiations between criminals and victims.
"The payments have been made to the terrorists," billionaire John Catsimatidis told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning. "I understand from my sources that $4 million was paid."
The Russia-based hacking group DarkSide was named as the perpetrator of this ransomware attack, and the group itself claimed credit for hitting Colonial Pipeline. It also apologized for the disruption it had caused, saying it just wanted to make some money.
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On Thursday, when gas tracking site Gas Buddy reported more than 60% of North Carolina gas stations were out of at least some types of fuel, President Biden spoke about the shortages resulting from this ransomware attack.
A reporter asked Biden if he knew about a ransom payment from Colonial Pipeline to DarkSide, and he responded with two words: "No comment."
Also on Thursday, Colonial Pipe announced it is re-powering its pipeline, which is fed by some 30 refineries. From its latest statement:
"Colonial Pipeline has made substantial progress in safely restarting our pipeline system and can report that product delivery has commenced in a majority of the markets we service. By mid-day today, we project that each market we service will be receiving product from our system."
Biden asked Americans to stay calm and give this situation some time:
"I want to be clear—we will not feel the effects at the pump immediately, this is not like flicking on a light switch. This pipeline is 5,500 miles long.
Don't panic. I know seeing lines at the pumps or gas stations with no gas can be extremely stressful. But this is a temporary situation. Do not get more gas than you need in the next few days."
[RELATED: Is Ransomware a National Emergency?]
