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Colonial Pipeline CEO tells Congress paying ransom was "the right choice"

08 June 2021
Dan Ackermann

Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount defended his decision Tuesday to pay the hackers that launched a ransomware attack against the crucial fuel line, telling a Senate panel it was "the right choice" and that he put "the interests of the country first."

Why it matters: Federal investigators for years have recommended that companies do not pay hacking groups to decrypt their computer systems over fears that the transactions would encourage more groups to conduct future attacks.

What they're saying: "I made the decision to pay and I made the decision to keep the information about payment as confidential as possible," Blount told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Tuesday. "It was the hardest decision in my 39 years in the energy industry."

  • "And I know how critical the pipeline is to the country, and I put the interest of the country first. I kept the information closely held because we were concerned about safety and security, and we wanted to stay focused on getting the pipeline running. I believe it was the right choice to make," he added.
  • "I also now state publicly that we quickly worked with the law enforcement in this matter from the start, which may have helped lead to the recovery of funds announced by the DOJ this week."

Context: Blount told the Wall Street Journal he authorized a ransom payment of $4.4 million to the DarkSide cybercrime group on May 7 in an attempt to restore the services of the largest refined fuels pipeline in the country.

  • However, the company had been following instructions from the FBI in making the transaction, which was able to track it, according to CNN.
  • After the payment, the hacker group said it was going dark after it lost access to the infrastructure needed to carry out its extortion operations and that a cryptocurrency account it uses to pay its affiliates had been drained.

The big picture: The Department of Justice and FBI said Monday the U.S. had recovered $2.3 million worth of cryptocurrency from payments to individuals tied to DarkSide.

  • It marked the first seizure undertaken by a recently created digital extortion taskforce in the Justice Department, according to CNN.

Go deeper:DOJ to treat ransomware attacks with similar priority as terrorism

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.