Bloomberg reports that Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million in ransom to the cyberterrorists who hacked their system in a ransomware attack.
The report contradicts earlier reports that the company had no intention of paying the hackers to release their hold on the company’s computer system. Reportedly, the company paid the ransom in untraceable cryptocurrency hours after being alerted to the attack. After receiving the unlock code, the company continued to try to restore the system from backups itself, a process that was going very slowly. The company reportedly shut down distribution of gasoline and jet fuel itself as a safety precaution; gas distribution was not disrupted directly by the cyberattack.