Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas joined Wednesday by the chairwoman of a House Committee in asking Energy Secretary Granholm to brief them on the Colonial Pipeline Company ransomware attack.
Lucas is the Ranking Member and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology which has broad authority over all energy research, development and demonstration as the two pointed out in their letter to the Energy Secretary.
“The Committee must fulfill its responsibility to ensure our federal cybersecurity and physical security programs and research efforts are focused on combating the most serious threats to our energy supply,” they wrote.
Their request came after the cyberattack on the company resulted in a several-day shutdown of 5,500 miles of pipeline until Colonial paid nearly $4.4 million to DarkSide, the hacker group.
Other reports put the amount at $90 million in bitcoin ransom payments.
” We request your assistance to better understand DOE’s role in protecting our energy sector from cyberattacks, how DOE includes pipelines in its cybersecurity agenda, and the research and development initiatives that are critical to this work,” they continued in their letter.
A copy of the full letter can be found here.