Security News > 2021 > May > US Pipelines Ordered to Increase Cyber Defenses After Hack
U.S. pipeline operators will be required for the first time to conduct a cybersecurity assessment under a Biden administration directive in response to the ransomware hack that disrupted gas supplies in several states this month.
The Transportation Security Administration directive being issued Thursday will also mandate that the owners and operators of the nation's pipelines report any cyber incidents to the federal government and have a cybersecurity coordinator available at all times to work with authorities in the event of an attack like the one that shut down Colonial Pipeline.
Pipeline companies, which until now operated under voluntary guidelines, could face financial penalties that start at $7,000 per day if they fail to comply with a security directive that reflects an administration focus on cybersecurity that predates the May attack on Colonial, senior Department of Homeland Security officials said.
"The Colonial Pipeline breach, in particular, was a wake-up call to many Americans about how malicious cyber actors, often backed by foreign states, can disrupt the U.S. economy and all of our lives," said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., the panel's chair.
DHS, under Mayorkas, launched a "60-day sprint" to focus the agency on the ransomware threat weeks before the Colonial Pipeline hack became publicly known on May 7.
Pipeline companies will also have to designate a cybersecurity coordinator who would be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work with TSA and CISA in case of a breach like the one at Colonial Pipeline.