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By Elaine Ou / Bloomberg Opinion
Business is booming for cyberextortionists.
DarkSide, the hacking group that shut down a key US oil pipeline earlier this month, has collected more than US$90 million in hard-to-trace bitcoin from 47 victims, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has said.
The pipeline hack ended only after Colonial Pipeline Co paid nearly US$5 million in ransom to regain control of computer systems needed to supply gasoline to much of the eastern US, and was widely dubbed a “wake-up call” to batten down loose digital hatches.
Photo: AP
Following the subsequent release of US President Joe Biden’s new “Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” the US Department of Homeland Security is moving to regulate cybersecurity in the pipeline industry. The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expected to issue mandatory…
