Pipeline chief to face Congress as US recovers ransom payment

Colonial Pipeline officials have said they saw the $4.4m ransom payment as necessary to restart halted operations as a fuel-shortage crisis gripped the East Coast.

The chief executive of the massive fuel pipeline hit by ransomware last month is expected to detail his company’s response to the cyberattack and to explain his decision to authorise a multimillion-dollar payment when he testifies before the United States Congress this week. Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount will face the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, one day after the US Department of Justice revealed it had recovered the majority of the $4.4m ransom payment the company made in hopes of getting its system back online. A second hearing is set for Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee. Blount’s testimony marks his first appearance before Congress since the May 7 ransomware attack that led Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline, which supplies roughly half the fuel consumed on the East Coast of the US, to temporarily halt operations. The attack has been attributed to a Russia-based gang of cybercriminals using the DarkSide ransomware variant, one of more than 100 variants the FBI is currently investigating.