The ransomware attack that caused long lines for fuel on the east coast was just part of a dramatic change in the scale and nature of foreign-based th

Age of the cyber-attack: US struggles to curb rise of digital destabilization

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2021-06-14 09:30:04

The ransomware attack that caused long lines for fuel on the east coast was just part of a dramatic change in the scale and nature of foreign-based threats

I t’s been 40 years since Lisa Donnan has queued for gas. But last month the cybersecurity expert found herself joining the long lines of cars across the east coast of the US looking for fuel after the latest in a series of cyber-attacks had shut down the pipeline that provides fuel to 45% of the region.

The hack of the Colonial Pipeline was just one of a series of cyber-attacks that have hit the US and elsewhere recently. Hackers have taken down JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, disrupting the global meat market, closed schools in Iowa and hit hospitals in Ireland in what experts say is a dangerous escalation of a crime wave that has swelled from the small-scale blackmail operations of a few years ago to major assaults that threaten the livelihoods – and potentially lives – of millions.

Many of the recent attacks have been sourced to operations in Russia and US officials say that Russia’s responsibility for ransomware attacks carried out from its territory would be a central issue when Joe Biden meets Vladimir Putin in Geneva next Wednesday.