To resolve the attack on Colonial Pipeline, the company paid about $4.4 million May 8 to regain access to its computer systems after its oil and gas pipelines across the eastern U.S were crippled by ransomware.

A new task force holds the keyĭuring a press conference Monday, top federal law enforcement officials explained that the money was recovered by a recently launched Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, which had been created as part of the government's response to a surge of cyberattacks. That's because there are several unexplained factors that contributed to the operation's success. 'What we don't know is whether or not this is going to pave the way for future similar successes.' 'Ransomware is very seldom recovered,' said April Falcon Doss, executive director of the Institute for Technology Law and Policy at Georgetown Law, who described it as 'a really big win' for the government. Experts say it was a surprising outcome to an increasingly frequent and severe crime. The Department of Justice on Monday touted the recovery of $2.3 million - about half - of the ransom that was collected by hackers in the Colonial Pipeline attack last month. It managed to recover $2.3 million of the ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline in an attack earlier this year, the department announced Monday. The Justice Department has assembled a new task force to confront ransomware after what officials say was the most costly year on record for the crippling cyberattacks.

Half life 2 hack attack