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Colonial Pipeline publishes cybersecurity jobs ahead of attack Business and Economic News

Jobs in the role of Colonial Pipeline’s ‘cybersecurity director’ were still at work on its website on Wednesday, five days after the company’s response to a cyberattack occurred.

Colonial Pipeline, a U.S. company, is in the midst of a major ransomware attack worsening gasoline shortages and fuel hikes across the country opened a job for a cybersecurity manager before the hacks forced the pipeline offline a few weeks earlier.

The job posting in fact, Colonial’s “cybersecurity manager” was still on its website on Wednesday, five days after the company’s response to the cyberattack began.

In the publication, Colonial described the position based in Alpharetta, Georgia as “responsible for managing a team of certified cybersecurity experts and specialists, including network security engineers, SCADA and field controls network engineers and cybersecurity architect only.” .

According to the publication, the role required to be a “self-motivated” person with a degree in computer science, information security, or a related field, or a combined work experience and education. Candidates would have five years or more of technical experience in addition to five years or more of practical experience.

“As a manager, you will lead the development of a cybersecurity business strategy; oversee the development of cybersecurity standards and processes; direct the recovery of security incidents; and lead the courts of events,” it said. “You are someone who understands security threats, designing security policies and procedures to mitigate threats as much as possible.”

Colonial Pipeline has claimed to be the largest pipeline for refined U.S. products, transporting 2.5 million barrels a day of gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, aircraft fuel and a U.S. 5,500-mile underground pipeline.

He said in a statement that the jobs were not linked to the cyber attack.

“The cybersecurity position was not created as a result of the recent ransomware attack,” the company said in an email to Bloomberg News. “We have a number of open positions within our long-term talent growth strategy as we continually hire top talent in all functional areas of our business.”

The company, which operates a major US power pipeline, says it was forced to temporarily suspend all pipeline operations after a cybersecurity attack

The company said it spends about 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the east coast on a dense population and provides 50 million Americans with fuel.

On Saturday the Colonial issued a statement confirming this “Victim of a cybersecurity attack” and that the incident was ransomware.

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts data, leaving legitimate users out of the system until the ransom is paid.

The company said it “proactively adopted a number of offline systems to contain the offline threat, which temporarily halted all pipeline operations and affected some of our IT systems” and a third-party cybersecurity company with law enforcement and federal agencies.

On Monday, the FBI confirmed that the pipe attack was carried out by a criminal group called DarkSide.

“The FBI confirms that Darkside ransomware is responsible for the involvement of Colonial Pipeline networks,” the FBI said in a statement. “We continue to work with the company and government partners in the investigation.”

Colonial said Monday he was working to “achieve the goal.” significant recovery of operational service at the end of the week ”.

A few days later, however, most of the pipeline is still offline and fuel shortages have plunged in some parts of the U.S., with drivers in some states working long hours to fill tanks or finding signs of “no fuel” attached to local pumps.

At least four U.S. governors, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, have declared a state of emergency in the face of the shortage.

The average retail price of gasoline hit a six-year high on Wednesday, standing Just over $ 3 per gallon, According to data from the AAA motorists organization.

In a recent press release posted on its website on Tuesday evening, Colonial said it “continues to make progress in the day-to-day efforts to return our system to service.”

The White House has scheduled a press conference on pipeline operations for Wednesday afternoon.

But while Colonial is able to restart pipeline operations on Wednesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has acknowledged that it would take a few more days to “intensify operations.”




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