Featured Colonial Pipeline II

A few weeks ago, SpaceX missed a home in my state by just 50 feet, at the circle marked "Beverly" in this image:



Orbital debris reentry | PriusChat

After fireballs streaked across sky, space-junk sleuths got busy — and hit the jackpot in Washington | The Seattle Times

 

Thank you, I had not heard of this event and thought you may have been thinking about the recent re-entry of the Chinese debris.
Glad to hear no one was hurt. Sorry that the story gave no details about this.
I would have liked to read if this was unusual, shouldn't have happened over land, etc.. I certainly wouldn't think it should.

Fuzzy1, thanks for the article, lots of good details in there!

 

I think it is an excellent example of some companies not being prepared and dealing with the more expensive consequences.
People in MN were rather amazed that such would be allowed, considering our energy infrastructure deals with much colder weather than this on a routine bases.

 

Is there the same evidence that the Chinese rocket makers attempt to minimize debris as there is for Space X? Lets give credit where credit is due.

As one who is the first named patent holder (on behalf of a former employer) of patents involving secure computer technology, let me tell you it isn't easy to be both easy to use and secure. (Not to mention economical to purchase.) And there are so many layers involved with so much hardware, firmware and software involved to get anything done that I'd be slow to jump to conclusions.

And all the EV users who want low rates....

Or ICE owners who want low gas prices ...

 

According to the article fuzzy1 linked, in SpaceX's case there was a malfunction. Normally it is supposed to come down over water.
The fact that it didn't needs to be investigated and at the very least I think a fine is in order.

The issue of the various government entities pointed to another organization as being responsible for tracking space junk as it falls means there will be a serious issue unless that is straightened out.

 

Air-gaps are not a complete solution to cyber-crime.

 

The last onion I found tripwires in went straight in the compost.

 

I would also note that in SpaceX's case, there was no advance publicity in the popular news media. Zilch. The first news was a bunch of videos of a meteoric light show overhead.

(I wasn't watching the technical and space news closely enough to have spotted any warnings there.)

But in the Chinese case, it was all over the popular news days in advance.

 

I knew about the failed reentry burn on March 9th. I wouldn't know if it was in the "popular media" since I haven't patronized them in 2 decades or so.

Reentry burns sometimes fail. Further, we used to not do them at all and that means pieces of space debris, sometimes from as far back as the 60s, routinely deorbit in an uncontrolled fashion.

 

Fact check: True.
But people still lock stuff up, use security lighting and cameras, and take other security precautions despite the fact that it doesn't stop all property crime.

Well the Chi-Comms DID call us out on that, and it's not without some justification.
It took all of the pieces/parts from the Falcon-9 booster weeks to de-orbit.
Even OUR myopic "news" agencies had time to get everybody all juiced up about it.

We've had some pretty big chunks fall out of the sky over populated dirt in the past including, sadly, some resulting in loss of life.
At least one and perhaps Two state governors missed a chance to fine Space-X for littering......

Fun Fact:
(According to the interwebs)
"....Littering is punishable by fines ranging from $50 to $5,000 in Washington. The largest fines are for “lit debris” — primarily cigarettes — and items that can cause accidents. Failing to secure a load and injuring another person can result in a gross misdemeanor, including a fine and up to a year in jail."

Me?
I would have given them something like a $50 fine for littering just for the publicity.

Our government, much like fake news, is capable of being spectacularly selective upon whom they shine the light of truth.

 

I love the humor value
I don't know that the government is being all that selective. This appears to be something that happens. I would suggest if you fine one, you fine them all.

 

The news is reporting the Colonial Pipeline rewarded the terrorist hackers with a $5,000,000 paycheck for hacking their pipeline.

A very bad omen of things to come and probably now establishing a business model for terrorist's to follow.

All they need is a computer, the education and a bad intent to hold businesses hostage

Colonial Pipeline Paid Roughly $5 Million in Bitcoin to Hackers - The New York Times.

How in the world do you not have a secure backup data and program- you isolate the system wipe it clean and reload ? What keeps the terrorist from installing a time delay bug that does exactly the same thing in 6 months.


Top 5 Antivirus Software Programs That Will Protect You From Hackers

 

This "business model" has been very well established for a long time.

Business laziness, an extremely common trait.

The victims usually protect themselves from this particular exploit happening again. And the "business" has a very rich supply of other "customers" available, so they don't need to change their product much at all, it is easy enough to reel in other new customers.

If the same company gets victimized again, it will almost certainly be from a different hacker group with a different exploit.

These groups operate like a business service, and provide keys and tools for the "customer" to bring their systems back up. This is essential in order to preserve the business model of getting paid. If a particular group gets a reputation for not enabling recovery after payment, then future "customers" will be far less likely to pay.

Real terrorists have no interest in their victims getting back on their feet, so won't provide any recovery keys or tools.

Other news shows indications that this group was quickly taken offline, and their ill-gotten booty may have been seized. Details are sparse, so we really don't know yet.

 

Bought gas today in central NC, line was 4 cars long. Price $2.899. Wife needed it to go to two Dr appointments next week. None of those specialists near where we live. Otherwise could have lasted another week easily. I didn't fill mine.

 

An item in this discussion a person may not readily realize:

Colonial Pipeline agreed to pay the terrorists' $5,000,000. Colonial Pipeline will simply raise its rates to its customers to cover this cost. This will be passed on until it finally reaches the consumer standing at the gas pump-That is who will be paying the terrorist.

By agreeing to pay these people Colonial Pipeline agreed to be the middle man in an exchange of wealth from the American population to the terrorist.

If Colonial Pipeline is fined- no problem for them- they will raise their rates and guess who will end up paying the fine- the American consumer who uses the gas that flows through this pipeline.

I feel Colonial Pipeline performed a great disservice to the American people through their incompetency and agreeing to extort $5,000,000 from the American consumers.

 

The ransom cost was peanuts, the business disruption to them and to their customers was far more costly than the raw ransom.

And if the attack had been from actual terrorists, or from state actors conducting covert warfare, the consequential costs would have been much larger still.

I agree that Colonial blundered in a big way. But the major problem with paying the ransom was not the loss of wealth from consumers, that piece is negligible in the overall picture. The bigger problem with paying is that the payment funds and encourages additional hacking of other targets.

And they are not adequately prepared for the real threats.

 

Paying the hackers is fairly standard procedure for business who get hit with ransomeware attacks. That makes this "business model" extremely lucrative for the perps and explains why it's exploding. One article I read said that in 2020 it increased by 900%. And it seems to me like increasing even more so far this year.

What's getting scary is that now some of them are also contacting the people whose data they harvested and making them pay up to prevent it from being sold or made public.