Colonial Pipeline affected by server issue

Colonial Pipeline, the major US pipeline network hit by cyber attack recently said on Tuesday that one of its servers was disrupted. But the company maintained that delivery of petroleum products was not affected.

Colonial announced last Thursday that it had restarted its entire network and resumed fuel deliveries to all markets.

"Our internal server that runs our nomination system experienced intermittent disruptions this morning due to some of the hardening efforts that are ongoing and part of our restoration process," a Colonial spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"These issues were not related to the ransomware or any type of reinfection," the spokesperson said, adding, 
"The Colonial Pipeline system continues to deliver refined products as nominated by our shippers." 

The pipeline's shutdown caused panic buying in the eastern United States and a spike in gasoline prices as Washington waived clean air regulations and rules on shipping and trucking to alleviate shortages.

Unknown actors last Friday shut down the servers of Darkside, which was behind the ransomware scam, amid reports Colonial paid the Russia-based cyber-extortionist millions of dollars in bitcoin. 

(With inputs from agencies)