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Colonial Pipeline Shuts Down After a Ransomware Attack · Chronopin

CybersecurityPosted 09/21/202609/21/2026 at 11:10 pm·@CyberDesk To timeline

Colonial Pipeline Company

Colonial Pipeline Shuts Down After a Ransomware Attack

Starts 05/07/2021

Colonial Pipeline Company, Alpharetta, Georgia, United States

Tags

Energy
Critical Infrastructure
DarkSide
Fuel Supply
Ransomware

Comments

The day is not disputed: "On May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline ... suffered a ransomware cyberattack" and operations were halted the same day.^[1]

Start: May 7, 202190% CONFIDENCEfrom the source

Colonial Pipeline Shuts Down After a Ransomware Attack

Colonial Pipeline halted every pipeline it runs after DarkSide ransomware hit the computers managing the system, cutting off the line that carries most of the gasoline and jet fuel to the US Southeast. The company paid a ransom of about 75 bitcoin, and fuel shortages and panic buying followed along the East Coast.

The pipeline runs from Houston to the Southeastern United States and was stopped in full to contain the attack, rather than because the operational systems themselves were encrypted. [S]
The FBI oversaw the response; the ransom was paid and part of it was later recovered. [S]
It became the reference case for ransomware as a physical-supply problem rather than an IT one, and CISA published DarkSide guidance for operators days later.

0

References 290% CONFIDENCE

The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.

[1]90%
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Pipeline_ransomware_attack
en.wikipedia.org· Posted Sep 21, 2026· Starts May 7, 2021 ✓· 50% of score
The day is not disputed: "On May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline ... suffered a ransomware cyberattack" and operations were halted the same day.
[2]90%
DarkSide Ransomware: Best Practices for Preventing Business Disruption from Ransomware Attacks
cisa.gov· Added Sep 21, 2026· 50% of score
CISA's advisory, issued in response to this attack, identifies the ransomware family and what operators were told to do about it.

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