So what critical system was hacked that shut down the Colonial Pipeline?

[ChasingCoral]

The billing system. Since the company was unsure they could bill customers correctly, they shut down the pipelines supplying gasoline, aviation fuel, and other critical fuels to the entire east coast.

Yep. The pipeline was fully functional.

https://jalopnik.com/the-colonial-pipeline-was-fine-but-it-was-shutdown-to-1846911689
It was all about Koch industries making sure they collected every penny of their revenues. Couldn't have inaccurate accounting, could they?

Don't confuse these pipelines with infrastructure or public utilities. They are 100% private, for-profit systems.

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[CHeil402]

The billing system. Since the company was unsure they could bill customers correctly, they shut down the pipelines supplying gasoline, aviation fuel, and other critical fuels to the entire east coast.

Yep. The pipeline was fully functional.

https://jalopnik.com/the-colonial-pipeline-was-fine-but-it-was-shutdown-to-1846911689
It was all about Koch industries making sure they collected every penny of their revenues. Couldn't have inaccurate accounting, could they?

Don't confuse these pipelines with infrastructure or public utilities. They are 100% private, for-profit systems.

I was already mad at Colonial Pipeline for passing the cost of the impact on to consumers through raised prices to recoup their losses rather than cutting into their profits to pay for any issues... now I'm even more mad to find out that they only shut the system down to ensure they could get paid properly!

That's not how public service sectors or utilities should operate. For example, when SEPTA (Philly's public transit) had a billing hack, they didn't stop the trains so they could be sure to collect all their fares... they just ran the trains and didn't charge customers. All the more reason I'm happy to be moving towards electrification!

 

[ChasingCoral]

I was already mad at Colonial Pipeline for passing the cost of the impact on to consumers through raised prices to recoup their losses rather than cutting into their profits to pay for any issues... now I'm even more mad to find out that they only shut the system down to ensure they could get paid properly!

That's not how public service sectors or utilities should operate. For example, when SEPTA (Philly's public transit) had a billing hack, they didn't stop the trains so they could be sure to collect all their fares... they just ran the trains and didn't charge customers. All the more reason I'm happy to be moving towards electrification!

I'll repeat the last line of my post:
Don't confuse these pipelines with infrastructure or public utilities. They are 100% private, for-profit systems.

 

[CHeil402]

I'll repeat the last line of my post:
Don't confuse these pipelines with infrastructure or public utilities. They are 100% private, for-profit systems.

Agreed. I wasn't trying to say that it is infrastructure or a public utility, but it certainly masquerades awfully close to that. And you'd hope they would feel ethically obliged based on their broader impact to act responsibly and not send the stock market into a tumble and people scrambling to fill up plastic shopping bags and water bottles with gasoline so that they could bill properly.

 

[theo1000]

Small item but EA does that too at their chargers. When the billing system is balky, their chargers move to complimentary charge mode AKA free.

 

[Luke]

I was already mad at Colonial Pipeline for passing the cost of the impact on to consumers through raised prices to recoup their losses rather than cutting into their profits to pay for any issues... now I'm even more mad to find out that they only shut the system down to ensure they could get paid properly!

That's not how public service sectors or utilities should operate. For example, when SEPTA (Philly's public transit) had a billing hack, they didn't stop the trains so they could be sure to collect all their fares... they just ran the trains and didn't charge customers. All the more reason I'm happy to be moving towards electrification!

I agree with you. If they are trying to raise the price to cover loses for their own incompetence in protecting their systems. They should be double penalized.

 

[theo1000]

BTW since I/family have been driving EV's for ~ 20 years we almost never interact with the ICE eco system is this 'Gas Buddy' thing the ICE equivalent of 'Plug Share'. Looks completely user reported and very close to the ground. Always the most accurate info...

 

[ChasingCoral]

BTW since I/family have been driving EV's for ~ 20 years we almost never interact with the ICE eco system is this 'Gas Buddy' thing the ICE equivalent of 'Plug Share'. Looks completely user reported and very close to the ground. Always the most accurate info...

I'd say Plugshare and Gas Buddy are very similar that way -- pretty much all crowdsourced info plus some money making commercial operations attached to it.

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