MOSCOW, May 10-RIA Novosti. The US authorities have declared a regional emergency in connection with the suspension of the work of the largest operator of the United States, Colonial Pipeline, engaged in the transportation of fuel through the pipeline.
Earlier, the Colonial Pipeline said that it was subjected to a cyber attack. In this regard, the company shut down some systems "to contain the threat, which temporarily halted all operations related to the pipeline, and affected some information systems." According to media reports, the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline was carried out using a ransomware program. The Bloomberg agency reported that the attackers from the DarkSide criminal group were behind the attack, they managed to steal 100 gigabytes of the company's data.
The law affected states in the east and south of the United States, including New York, Virginia, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and a number of others.
"This statement refers to the emergency conditions that require the immediate transportation of gasoline (and other fuels), and to provide the necessary assistance," the US Department of Transportation said in a statement.
Colonial Pipelines said on Sunday that the main fuel transportation lines are down, but several smaller lines between terminals and delivery points have already started operating.
According to analysts interviewed by the New York Times, it may take several days to restore the Colonial Pipelines systems.