Out of Gas
At Emily’s Home in Durham, NC
Emily investigated the contents of her freezer. She normally
went grocery shopping on a Thursday, but with less than half a tank of gas, she
did not want to take the risk. Gas pumps all over town had run dry. There was
talk of tankers arriving at a station close to the highway, but chances were
they would run out by the time she got there. Best to conserve and make do with
whatever supplies she had on hand.
At Colonial Pipeline
Computer screens across the data centers read, “Your files
are encrypted by DarkSide”. Some screens included a demand for ransom to
decrypt the files. The IT Team systematically set about isolating computer
networks with a view to salvaging some part of the system. They were
unsuccessful. They couldn’t tell yet how or when the intruders had taken
control of their system. They could see though that every single operations
process had been compromised. This was not their worst nightmare coming alive,
simply because they had never imagined such a scary scenario was even possible.
Within 2 hours, the Data Center director
had informed her boss that that the systems managing the 5000-mile pipeline
that delivered gas to pumps from New York to Georgia were unreliable. At the
Executive Meeting convened shortly thereafter, the CEO shut down the pipeline that
delivered more than half the fuel consumed in States along the East Coast. It
would result in an extreme fuel crisis, as this was one of the 2 feeders to gas
stations across the East Coast states. 2 decades earlier, this CEO had the led
the effort to convert fuel supply to “just-in-time” eliminating the cost of
distributed storage for a dramatic reduction in cost. Now, with the pipeline
shut down, gas stations would receive half the supply needed on a daily basis. Government
agencies, including the FBI and White House were engaged. The company also
opened a channel to discuss the US$4.4M ransom demanded by DarkSide.
At DarkSide
The room was dimly lit. The tables were arranged in several
concentric half arches. Every table was covered with computer screens, each one
of them covered with text that was being constantly updated. At the center of
the innermost arch a person huddled over a large monitor. He wore large
headphones over his ears and spoke into a microphone that he projected out of
them. “Phases 1, 2 and 3 are now complete. Very well done! We now enter the
final phase of our operation. It looks like our ransom will be accompanied by
some close scrutiny by the Feds. Team 4 what is your assessment ?” A
synthesised voice came back into his ears, “They cannot come anywhere near us
in 6 of our 11 stations. We have a high risk of exposure at 2 stations, medium
to low at the other 3 our agents are in place, if the Feds are able to secure
cooperation from the international agencies we’re SOL. There has been no
cooperation among many of these agencies for the last 40 years. I’d estimate
risk of being detected at 4 of 10.” “That will be all then. Next touchpoint at
18:00 GMT”, he said, and signed off.”
At the White House
“7 states have declared emergencies because more than 70% of
their gas stations are now out of gas. The rest expect to hit that mark later
today. The Department of Energy has authorized emergency fuel transportation by
truck and rail and the EPA has temporarily waived fuel quality regulations. We
are working with the State Governments and private sector partners to help us
get relief immediately. The FBI is looking into the money trail, and expect to
have a concrete update in the next 24
hours.
At Emily’s Home in Durham NC
An alert from her neighbourhood community app NextDoor chirped
on Emily’s phone. “Gas now available at the Hillendale Gas station and at
Costco”. With a sigh of relief, Emily grabbed her purse and entered the garage.
It had been an anxious 4 days without going out. One more day and she would
have been out of milk and bread.
At DarkSide
It was a little more than ninety days since Colonial’s Gas
Pipeline had been attacked. The ground was being prepared for a foundation for
an office building. Large earth moving equipment littered the scene. A man with
a hoodie sat in a pickup truck nearby. He looked at his phone as it vibrated.
It took a few seconds to decrypt it. It read, “All footprints removed from CP.
FBI got to 3 of our transfer agents. Lost 2.3M.” He deleted both messages then drove away.
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