US fuel supplier Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid cyber-criminal gang DarkSide nearly $5 million in ransom after a cyberattack, BBC has said. Colonial, which has the largest fuel pipeline network, had earlier said it would not pay the ransom demanded by the hackers.
CNN, the New York Times, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported that the ransom was paid after the fuel pipeline suffered a cyberattack over the weekend, which crippled supplies for five days.
Also read: Cyberattack on vital US pipeline linked to criminal gang
Earlier on May 14, Japanese consumer tech giant Toshiba complained that its European division in France had been hit by the same gang.
With the ransom being paid, Colonial Pipeline said it would be able to resume operations by May 13, however, cautioned that it may take several days for the supply to normalise.
Following the closure of the service by Colonial, supplies of diesel, petrol and jet fuel tightened across the US. It led to a rise in prices and a number of states declaring an emergency on May 10.
The 5,500-mile (8,900km) pipeline usually carries 2.5 million barrels a day on the East Coast. The Automobile Association of America said that average price per gallon hit $3.008, the highest since October 2014.
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