, Columnist
Colonial Pipeline Paid the Ransom. Bad Move.
Giving in to hackers only emboldens them and worsens the problem.
Don’t encourage the extortionists.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Colonial Pipeline paid the ransom.
And after forking over $5 million to hackers who forced it to shut down an important fuel conduit, which spurred a bonkers run on local gas stations, the burglars gave Colonial a decryption key meant to sanitize its computer networks. But the tool didn’t work very well. Bad trade.