The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Energy => Topic started by: thackney on April 04, 2018, 05:45:23 pm
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Third gas pipeline data system shuts a day after cyberattack
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Third-gas-pipeline-data-system-shuts-a-day-after-12803184.php (https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Third-gas-pipeline-data-system-shuts-a-day-after-12803184.php)
April 3, 2018
A third U.S. pipeline company reported its electronic system for communicating with customers has stopped working, a day after a cyberattack resulted in a similar shutdown.
The Department of Homeland Security, which said Monday it's gathering information about the potential intrusion, had no immediate comment on the latest shutdown. Tuesday's closure affected Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region. The cyberattack Monday didn't affect flows on the pipeline.
The shutdowns come after U.S. officials warned in March that Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the nation's electric grid and other targets. Last month, Atlanta's municipal government was hobbled for several days by a ransomware attack.
The systems hit in the last two days help pipeline customers communicate their needs with operators, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents. Energy Transfer Partners LP and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP reported breakdowns Monday. Energy Transfer, which reported the reason as being a cyberattack, said its electronic data interchange system -- provided by third-party Energy Services Group LLC -- was back online in the early evening, and that business wasn't affected in any other way....
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And therein lies one of the nice things about having a stockpile of coal piled up outside power plant instead of relying upon pipeline systems like gas power plants do.
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And therein lies one of the nice things about having a stockpile of coal piled up outside power plant instead of relying upon pipeline systems like gas power plants do.
Not that they didn't affect gas flows. It sounds like this was only impacting accounting, billing.