Colonial Pipeline and the Economics of Ransomware

The report details the DarkSide RaaS ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline (which supplies ~45% of the U.S. East Coast's fuel), noting FBI attribution to DarkSide, the group's RaaS model and target-vetting claims, and emphasizing that ransomware impacts extend far beyond ransom payments — including insurance, incident response, legal, communications, IT support, and business continuity costs — and recommends layered defensive and response controls.