### $40 Million Stagnation--Dark Shadows Strike the U.S. Fuel Grid in 2021

### $40 Million Stagnation--Dark Shadows Strike the U.S. Fuel Grid in 2021

In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline, the company behind America's fuel supply, was shut down after an attack by the Russian ransomware group DarkSide. A ransom of approximately $4.4 million was paid, causing lines to form at gas stations along the East Coast and fuel panic. In the background was IT dependency and vulnerability accelerated by the pandemic. This was not just a corporate problem, but the beginning of a "new war" in which national infrastructure was targeted, an incident that symbolized the clash between governments and criminals in cyberspace.