₦airaland Forum

Colonial Pipeline paid the hackers who shut down some of its networks nearly $5 million in ransom, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said Thursday.

News of the payment was first reported by Bloomberg. The U.S. official did not say how or when the company paid.

Colonial, which operates the country’s largest fuel pipeline, announced it had been hacked Friday, and shut down all four of its major pipelines that serve the Eastern and Southeastern United States as a precaution. Gas prices rose, and some stations ran out of fuel. The Department of Transportation issued an emergency order allowing truckers driving fuel in affected states to work longer hours than federal regulations normally allow.

A third-party consulting company that now handles Colonial’s press inquiries declined to comment on the payment.

The company announced Wednesday that it was resuming operations.

The FBI has historically discouraged, but not prohibited, American ransomware victims from paying hackers, as a payment isn’t guaranteed to work and can encourage criminals to continue attacking others. In a press conference Monday, Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, acknowledged that some organizations might find paying the criminals off can be in their best interest.

“We recognize, though, that companies are often in a difficult position if their data is encrypted and they do not have backups and cannot recover the data,” she said.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Thursday, Neuberger said the White House’s advice remains that victims do not pay the ransom.

“The federal government, we discourage the payment of ransoms, because the prolific payment of ransoms encourages ransomware."

The hackers, known as DarkSide, are one of a number of ransomware groups that hold organizations’ files hostage and demand a payment, either by locking their files and making them unusable or threatening to release them to the public.

DarkSide, like many ransomware gangs, are believed to operate in Russia, and their ransomware program is designed to shut down if they infect computers that work in the Russian language.

President Joe Biden said Monday that U.S. intelligence believes DarkSide to be operating within Russia’s borders, and that while it didn’t appear to be directed by the Russian government, he is “going to have a conversation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin about such groups. “They have some responsibility to deal with this,” he said.

DarkSide in particular is notorious for providing victims who pay with a decryption program that works painfully slowly, said Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.

Colonial retained the cybersecurity company Mandiant to deal with the attack. Mandiant doesn’t directly pay ransomware gangs on clients’ behalf, a spokesperson for the company said, but acknowledges victims can choose to do so.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1267286

Cc Seun, lalasticlala mynd44 fp pls

adedehinbo:
But sincerely speaking,igbos and yorubas can never live together,the reason why u see them agree together is because they are fighting for the same cause, should Nigeria break now,igbos and yorubas can never live together for a month

how can people that have been living together cant live together

CandyOps:
Didn't even know they crosscheck those stuff submitted during interviews

Me and my guy de plan forge one sef for Yankee matter lol maybe we go pause the plans since them de check am true true

they will catch u. They verify after they have given the person employment

deantimes:
See war mongers

They will rather remain refugees in a foreign land than defend their land. HERDSMEN atrocities in the SW is case study.

If una like threaten fire and brimstone, na only una go fight North, SS and SE will give North the support to crush una.

Mad people everywhere

You dey threaten war because your presidential ambition is threatened. Come and be president in 2023 let's see.

When you were betraying we SS you never knew actions have consequences?

it's very clear that u didnt read the story. Ladoja cautiioned against war

orikoku:
Wonderful. I can't believe American government can pay such.

american company not government

RIP Man U. Title contenders that lost 2 matches in quick succession.

obehi247:
don't mind them, i just watch a video where the director of the national health insurance scheme (nhis) was speaking on ait, this was is position. the fulani people where not represented in the Southern Governor's forum

is there a fulani that is a governor in any state in southern nigeria? Why do those people reason like cows?

Brian47:
Us wey no do history for school nkor?

says who? Stop misinforming people

proxillin:
Jorghino scored against us..not arsenal.

U packed the bus for 90minute...

At least you people can laugh Tonite..tuchel has been making u cry

jorghino scored against u, not Arsenal? The match was Chelsea Vs Jorghno? Give a dog a bad name.
Chairman, Arsenal won u home and away. Next season will be worse for u, forget grammar.

proxillin:
At least opposing fans can have something to be happy about...since tuchel came they have been crying.

At least enjoy tonight

u forgot that West Brom (that Arsenal relegated) beat Chelsea 2-5 at chelsea's home. That your tuchel is an empty noisemaker. Let him survive 1 year at chelsea and we will take him serious.

Chelsea coach Tuchel say he is building a team anyone will be afraid to play against. But not against Arsenal shaa. Arsenal defeats Chelsea every single time. If it's wall of jericho, we shatter it. If it is berlin wall, we shatter.
In Arsenal I believe and trust. We move!!!

Arsenal my Arsenal. God bless Arsenal.

Chelsea fans, i pity una. Offside no be goal.

helinues:
Talk true,how many bottles are you on now?

comot joor

helinues:


If na play make you stop am

this man, u again? Na ball shaa, but I mean every bit of what I said. Arsenal is the best team in England.

fourboys:
But why Arsenal dey always flog Chelsea? E be like say Arsenal don fully pay Chelsea bride price

na Arsenal born chelsea naa. We buried their umbilical cord in an unknown grave

Fuckingmallam45:
What the hell is wrong with Chelsea, I thought they can do better than this.

don't blame Chelsea, they met a better team

When I say that Arsenal is the best team in England, I know what I'm saying

BestMan001:
Who will answer this QUESTION?

Frank Uduak Akpan did but who are his collaborators?

PrinceMajestic:
How is this suppose to be a news? Ok the ineffectual buffon was flown to mali by a female pilot and so what do we do about it? Make we fry beans? I see boredom is choking u to death o.p

BMC, oya go and collect your 30k. Ur work for the month speaks for itself

aspabay:
Under our administration....
Who are the our.

even GEJ is not bold to say MY ADMINSTRATION

bushman, services are provided by people.
Which is better when u meet the head of an organisation? "What can i do for you?" Or "what can we do for you?"

sammirano:
Useless govt. Easter holiday was one day.

easter is 2 days. Good Friday and Easter Monday

Is it kleptomania or what?
I tire. I started counting how much i kept in my wallet at night. Wake up, it's short by N1,000 today, short by N500 tomorrow. What my wife does with N1000 or N500, i dont know when she has money much more than myself. And if she wants to ask to take money from my wallet for anything, her demand starts from 5k. So why not ask for 5k instead of stealing N500.

emmanuelewumi:
Retirement age is from 50. I opted for an early retirement at 42 after working for 15 years

in civil service in nigeria, retirement age is 60 or 35 years of service. That's when u can have access to your Retirement Savings Account.
U resigned, not that u opted for early retirment

Op, trying to make sense, but with so many inconsistiences.
First of all, and only i will comment about, retirement age is 60, not 50.
Judges and professors even have longer ones like 70 or so.
This op must be a staff of one of those pension PFAs painting a rosy picture here. Retire and go to their office and u will see hell.

frog12:
you see the name of the auditors?
the surplus funds they remit is too low

Ten days later, April 16, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, notified the transportation ministry that two audit firms — Messrs Muhtari Dangana & Co (Chartered Accountants) and SIAO Chartered Accountants — appointed by the NPA board, already audited the maritime agency.

In the letter, the auditor-general added that the said audit firms had indeed audited and published the accounts of NPA in 2016, 2017, and 2018 financial years and that the 2019 audit was ongoing.

The Auditor-General added that his own office also conducted periodic checks on the agency and released appropriate reports on the exercises.

Quoting the NPA law and the Nigerian constitution, the Auditor-General concluded that since reputable professional audit firms were already engaged by the NPA Board in line with the agency’s enabling act, there was no justification for the ministry to conduct a parallel audit exercise.

How did u know that the amount they remitted is too low? From iya basira beer parlour gossip?

rawtouch:



dhl don finally deliver the letter


she was told to step aside for fraud and not because she tweeted about kidnappings, nobody should try to change history

which fraud? The auditor general said that 2 reputable audit firms had already audited and published the accounts of the agency

Draslo:
Not a sense of entitlement. By law, I'm entitled to six months.

the 6 months, wount u pay for it?

ivolt:
How can dead people be laying curses?

he said gunshot victims, not dead people. Learn to differentiate.

kettykin:
Then his case is worse than I initially imagined, a full grown ass man masquerading as a woman for some pittance from the government.

He might be a closet cross dresser like bobrisky

dont mind that man. He has long been busted.

ceejayluv:
Channels TV has removed the content from YouTube. Anyone who has downloaded it should please spread it via Twitter.

it's on YouTube. I just watched it

kettykin:
Ngene ukwuene is a vulturous journalist her own journalism feeds on the news of dead unarmed protesters, tufiakwa!!!!

ngeneukwenu is a man