The Colonial Pipeline Attack happened back in May of 2021 and was a crippling attack for the east coast. The pipeline was shut down for a few days causing a fuel shortage. Most cyberattacks that occur, only affect the business. This one was different as many were left wondering where they were going to get fuel.
The hacker group known as REvil attacked the Colonial Pipeline and demanded millions in ransom. If you want to know in depth how the hackers got in and how it happened, read our blog – What Happened With The Colonial Pipeline?
Now to the good news!
On January 14, 2022 Russia’s domestic intelligence agency arrested the hacker responsible for the Colonial Pipeline attack. This arrest was a successful cooperation of the US and Russian authorities working together to show cybercrime will not be tolerated. An unspecified number of people were arrested in this joint effort and millions of dollars were seized. Although this arrest is a victory for the officials, the group known as REvil have an unknown amount of people within their organization.
Why is this arrest significant?
Hackers use different tools and methods to hide their location so it can be very hard to trace the attack back to them. For example, on the surface an attack can look like it came from the same state a business resides in. In reality, the attack was launched by someone overseas or hundreds of miles away and their real location is hidden.
Just a couple of short years ago, it was said that a cyberattack happens every 14 seconds. That number has now increased to every 11 seconds a business is hit with some variant of a cyberattack. There are so many attacks that occur, it is rare the hacker is caught and arrested. It is so rare that numbers are estimated that only one in every million attacks actually result in a hacker being arrested. That’s a pretty dismal number and means the attackers are able to keep stalking victims without fear of prosecution.
It’s important to have the right protection in place and train your staff properly on what threats look like. We are here to help. If you need assistance in any area then please let us know. Stay safe out there!
Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash
