Colonial Pipeline notifying 5,810 people of data breach after DarkSide attack

The US company reported the incident to the FBI in May and paid a ransom of about 75 Bitcoin to DarkSide

In June, US investigators claimed to have recovered 63.7 of the 75 Bitcoin that Colonial Pipeline paid in ransom. EPA

Colonial Pipeline is notifying 5,810 people of a possible breach of their personal data following the DarkSide ransomware attack that hit the US company in May.

“Based on our investigation, we recently learned that the incident affected certain of your personal information," Joseph Blount, chief executive of Colonial Pipeline, said in a data breach notification letter.

We are "alerting you about this issue so you can take steps to help protect yourself," he added.

The compromised information could include a person's name, contact information, date of birth, government-issued ID and health-related information.

Colonial realised its systems were compromised on May 7, when an employee found a ransom note from hackers on a control-room computer.

Colonial, which each day normally ships about 2.5 million barrels of oil, reported the incident to the FBI and paid a ransom of about 75 Bitcoin to regain control of its systems.

In June, US investigators claimed to have recovered about 63.7 Bitcoin, valued at about $2.3 million.

The US Department of Justice said it managed to recover part of the ransom by sneaking into Darkside's systems. It did not disclose how it did so.

The attack endangered access to fuel for the US East Coast and caused panic buying that led to fuel shortages and price spikes across the country in May.

The pipeline, built in the 1960s, stretches 8,850 kilometres and carries products sufficient to meet the equivalent of the total consumption of Germany – Europe’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-biggest.

DarkSide, which follows the ransomware-as-a-service model – meaning it sells or leases ransomware to others to carry out attacks – reportedly shut down due to the pressure from the US government after the incident.