Homeland Security Chief Vows Government-wide Response to Colonial Pipeline Cyberattack

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is leading a governmentwide response to the cyberattack that shuttered the largest fuel pipeline in the United States last week, sparking concerns about gasoline shortages.  

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Biden administration is considering invoking a range of emergency authorities to ensure that gasoline carried by ships reaches the regions adversely impacted by the Colonial Pipeline’s shutdown last Friday.   “We’re working at the direction of the president in an all-of-government way to address the cybersecurity threat that Colonial suffered and that other businesses and institutions across all our country all are vulnerable to,” Mayorkas said.  The Colonial Pipeline system was forced to shut down its entire network along the U.S. East Coast in the wake of a ransomware attack claimed by a cybercriminal gang known as DarkSide. Colonial said Wednesday afternoon it was restarting operations, but the company expects “it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal.”