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Policy Minute: TSA Cybersecurity Roadmap for Pipelines
The Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) has issued an amended directive on pipeline security, SD-Pipeline-2021-02D (the “Directive”). The Directive is based on and supersedes the...more
Last year Colonial Pipeline halted one of the United States’ largest pipeline systems due to a ransomware attack. Within days a state of emergency was declared in 17 states. A few days later the pipeline resumed service, and...more
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has revised and reissued its Security Directive on cybersecurity for critical pipelines and liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities. The new Security Directive takes a more...more
Should hazardous liquids pipelines be prepared to operate “manually” in the event of a future cyberattack? An almost million dollar fine proposed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) on...more
A proposed $1M civil penalty against Colonial Pipeline for its procedural failures during a ransomware attack could indicate what’s in store for critical infrastructure operators who fail to keep employees up to date on how...more
Federal agencies have been actively looking at cyber threats to critical infrastructure. In a January 27 announcement the White House said: “it will extend the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative to the...more
Privacy In Focus®- In 2021, cyber gained prominence as a top business risk and national security concern with ransomware attacks wreaking havoc on business operations and critical infrastructure. Companies large and small,...more
Cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure systems are nothing new. But events over the last few years have been notable due to the seemingly increased frequency of successful attacks and the way those attacks have been...more
Second Circuit Denies Settlement of Data Breach Case Due to Lack of Standing - As we previously reported, in April 2021, the Second Circuit became the latest federal circuit to hold that an individual may establish Article...more
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on July 20, 2021, reversed two decades of pipeline cybersecurity policies. Having previously advocated for voluntary pipeline cybersecurity standards, the TSA quickly issued...more
Following a series of major ransomware attacks, including against Colonial Pipeline, which provides the East Coast with 45 percent of its gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, President Biden issued a National Security Memorandum...more
The increased concern about ransomware incidents from both quantitative and severity standpoints, spurred the White House to urge corporate business leaders to improve their defenses and resilience posture against ransomware...more
CYBERSECURITY - Second Security Directive Issued by TSA to Pipeline Operators - The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued its second Security Directive to the pipeline industry on July 20, 2021,...more
This week, the House of Representatives approved three measures aimed at improving cybersecurity in the energy industry...more
In the weeks that followed a ransomware attack on a domestic pipeline company, the federal government’s efforts to shore up the cybersecurity posture of America’s critical infrastructure and supply chains, including the oil...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a new Security Directive requiring companies in the pipeline sector “to better identify, protect against, and respond to” cyber threats. Among other things, the...more
You just can’t make this stuff up – the Justice Department, displaying its growing sophistication of the cyber world, announced it recovered most of the ransom paid to criminal hackers of Colonial Pipeline Co. (Colonial)....more
In an unusual and exciting twist to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that it was able to retrieve $2.3 million of the $4.4 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to...more
After years of protests, lobbying, and legal battles, TC Energy—the Canadian pipeline company behind the embattled Keystone XL pipeline project that “would have carried petroleum from Canadian tar sands to Nebraska”—announced...more
On June 7, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it seized 63.7 of the 75 bitcoins paid by Colonial Pipeline to ransomware attackers last month. The recovered bitcoins were valued at $2.3 million at the time of...more
In a rare cyber win for the good guys (at least one that’s publicly acknowledged), the DOJ revealed on Monday that it “had seized much of the ransom that a major U.S. pipeline operator had paid last month to a Russian hacking...more
On May 10, 2021, the hacking group DarkSide succeeded in shutting down the Colonial Pipeline with a ransomware attack that highlighted the vulnerability of the U.S. energy sector to cyberattacks. The attack led to a panic...more
Less than a month after the high-profile ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued its first-ever set of mandatory...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a security directive (Directive) that, for the first time, imposes mandatory cybersecurity requirements on companies in the pipeline industry. ...more
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Racine Sues Amazon - On May 25, 2021, Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine sued Amazon in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for alleged antitrust violations under...more