How To Stop Ransomware Attacks? 1 Proposal Would Prohibit Victims From Paying Up

For cybersecurity experts, the threat of an attack on critical U.S. infrastructure was always the doomsday scenario. Now, less than a week after hackers managed to knock an essential East Coast pipeline offline, that fear has become reality.

The attack against the operator of the system, Colonial Pipeline, led the company to announce Saturday that it had shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline carrying roughly 45% of fuel supplies for the entire East Coast. Colonial said Wednesday it had "initiated the restart of pipeline operations," but warned it would take several days for supply to return to normal. In the meantime, governors in at least three states have already declared states of emergency, and fears of fuel shortages have resulted in lines of