11–20 of 106 posts
What? Did the author think that the ransomeware literally locked valves?
Colonial Pipeline is a common carrier, "moving gasolines, kerosenes, home heating oils, diesel fuels and national defense fuels" (the US military runs on something which has the additives to be used either as JET-A or diesel fuel) "to shipper terminals in 12 states and the District of Columbia." Some pipelines switch from one product to another, usually with a slug of water in between for separation. There's valve switching, tank filling, and tank emptying going on. If you can't coordinate that, the wrong product ends up in the wrong place. If they lost the system that tracks what's where and where it's going, they have to shut down, or, as they seem to have done, dropped the pumping speed way down so they could operate the system manually.
It's not just one pipe that carries one product.
Can we get the title fixed please? Even if it's misspelled at the source. ..., shut down ...
> [the] shutdown [was] to make sure
Or with your correction it would be read as:
> [it was] shut down to make sure
So it’s not incorrect in the source article, it is just using the noun shutdown, rather than the verb to shut down.
How come that billing is basically ALWAYS the typical system that - no matter what - runs on Windows? SMEs software, big enterprise software and everything in between, you can have 99% of your core systems running on whatever operating system you want, or several of them, but the billing/payroll/accounting system will ALWAYS be Windows. Even if SAP has Linux/Unix versions.
The author of this article comes off as really very clueless. Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? As far as I understand colonial is basically a big gas station connected with a series of tubes. Look ma, the gas pump still works but it doesn't keep track of how much we pumped or charge us any more! Of course they…
They better do that if they get the permission from the gov't to operate the only grocery store in the area, and people weren't able to get food otherwise.
The author of this article comes off as really very clueless. Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? As far as I understand colonial is basically a big gas station connected with a series of tubes. Look ma, the gas pump still works but it doesn't keep track of how much we pumped or charge us any more! Of course they…
> if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? This is exactly what we expect them to do in a crisis situation. This is also how Hollywood portrays ethical behavior. The store owner in Jericho (2006 TV series) is the first to come to mind, but there should be plenty of other examples. And good deeds come back to us.
> didn’t actually shut down the pipeline. It impacted the billing system at the Colonial Pipeline Co., which shut it down because they were worried about how they’d collect payments. What? Did the author think that the ransomeware literally locked valves?
"the operational network that controls its pipelines and distributes fuel is separate from the corporate network and wasn’t infected"
The article thinks it matters whether the ransomware gets on the operational network, not your strawman.
The author of this article comes off as really very clueless. Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? As far as I understand colonial is basically a big gas station connected with a series of tubes. Look ma, the gas pump still works but it doesn't keep track of how much we pumped or charge us any more! Of course they…
I think maybe you have to think about the total economic impact for the article and frustration to make more sense. Fuel is a very fundamental part of our economy and almost always goes toward producing much more value than the value of the fuel itself. Add to that, shortages can and do contribute to irreversible losses like loss of life. If every gas distributor shut down because ransomware hit them all, you could c…
Would you bet millions of dollars on the goodness of the typical person?
The author of this article comes off as really very clueless. Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? As far as I understand colonial is basically a big gas station connected with a series of tubes. Look ma, the gas pump still works but it doesn't keep track of how much we pumped or charge us any more! Of course they…
The author of this article comes off as really very clueless. Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? As far as I understand colonial is basically a big gas station connected with a series of tubes. Look ma, the gas pump still works but it doesn't keep track of how much we pumped or charge us any more! Of course they…
>Yes, in fact, if a store's computers go down they don't just let customers walk out the door with products and hope they get paid eventually? They better do that if they get the permission from the gov't to operate the only grocery store in the area, and people weren't able to get food otherwise.
Providing service without hope of ever being paid is stupid. The market is pretty good at selecting against stupidity.