Cyber-Ransom Of $5m ‘Nothing’ To Colonial Pipeline, Which Has Paid Hundreds Of Millions In Dividends To Billionaire Koch Family

Gasoline is flowing again down the Colonial Pipeline. Tanks are getting refilled, lines gone. Motorists are no longer panic hoarding and kicking themselves for not buying that plug-in Tesla

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It may take a little longer to lose that sneaking suspicion that civilization is on shakier foundations than thought. It’s cold comfort that the DarkSide hackers are “apolitical” and didn’t intend to cause social havoc, says Jonathan Reiber of AttackIQ. Because attacks like this broaden the imagination. Now that other groups see what’s possible they will try the same thing — but with more malevolent intent. And they’ll ask for a lot more than the $5 million that DarkSide allegedly extracted from Colonial. 

“Five million is nothing to them,” agrees Mark Ostrowski, head of engineering at CheckPoint, who was impressed by…