THE COLONIAL PIPELINE RANSOMWARE ATTACK

History Mystery · Oct 31, 2026 · 22m

Episode 238 | Historical Events

In this History episode we focus on the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack — the largest refined petroleum products pipeline in the United States, 5,500 miles from Texas to New Jersey, shut down for five days by a criminal hacking group called DarkSide that gained access through a single compromised password on an inactive VPN account not protected by multi-factor authentication. The five-day shutdown caused fuel shortages across thirteen states, panic buying, and images of Americans filling plastic bags with gasoline.

We trace the specific…