The CEO of the Colonial Pipeline on Wednesday justified authorizing a ransom payment of $4.4 million to hackers who broke into its systems in early May, saying that he wasn’t sure how much the cyberattack had affected the company or its ability to provide gas to customers again.
Joseph Blount, CEO of Colonial Pipeline, confirmed that the company had paid a ransom during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying that he had no choice but to pay the money, given what was at stake in the shutdown of the pipeline, which provides 45% of all gas on the East Coast.
“I know that’s a highly controversial decision,” Blount said in his first public remarks since the hack. “I didn’t make it lightly. I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this.”
“But it was the right thing to do for the country,” he added.
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It was reported last week that the company paid the ransom amount using cryptocurrency within hours of the attack, with sources citing the pressure the company faced to get gas flowing again to customers on the East Coast.
The FBI confirmed in early May that DarkSide ransomware was responsible for the Colonial Pipeline attack. DarkSide is a group of organized hackers selling software hacking tools to other criminals to carry out attacks on wealthy organizations and entities, according to the cybersecurity firm Cybereason.
The FBI discourages companies from paying ransom to hackers.
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“Paying a ransom doesn’t guarantee you or your organization will get any data back. It also encourages perpetrators to target more victims and offers an incentive for others to get involved in this type of illegal activity,” the FBI says in its guidance.
