President Joe Biden tried to restore calm Thursday after motorists rushed to buy gasoline following the hack of one of the country’s largest pipelines.
“Don’t panic,” Biden said from the White House. “This is a temporary situation. Do not get more gas than you need in the next few days. As I said, we expect the situation to begin to improve by the weekend and into early next week, and gasoline supply is getting back online, and panic buying will only slow the process.”
He added to gas station owners: “Nobody should be using this situation for financial gain. That’s what the hackers were trying to do. That’s what they are. Not us. That’s not who we are.”
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Colonial Pipeline officials announced late Wednesday they had restarted operations after going offline following last week’s cyberattack by a Russian-based cybercriminal group known as DarkSide using ransomware.
But the pipeline’s executives, who allegedly paid the hackers $5 million after the ransomware incursion, warned a return to normal fuel deliveries may be delayed. More than 12,000 gas stations along the East Coast reported being out of fuel on Thursday, pushing prices up to a seven-year high.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki greeted the Colonial Pipeline Company’s announcement on Wednesday with a statement underscoring the administration’s support of the private company. The Department of Homeland Security, for instance, issued “a temporary and targeted Jones Act waiver to an individual company,” she said. The Jones Act requires goods transported by water between U.S. ports to be conveyed on U.S.-flag ships crewed by U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The administration has waived other regulations to ease shortages.
Biden also signed an executive order Wednesday “to chart a new course to improve the nation’s cybersecurity,” according to Psaki. The order creates government agency and contractor software systems standards, including encryption and multifactor authentication, and establishes an incident review board. But critics contend the order does not go far enough.
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“This incident demonstrates that federal agencies and the private sector must work collaboratively to learn the lessons of this incident, strengthen cybersecurity practices, and deploy technologies that increase resilience against cyberattacks,” Psaki said.
