Energy Department Requests $201 Million to Bolster Cyber Defense

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm requested $201 million in additional funds to fortify her department’s cybersecurity defenses in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

Granholm’s request came in response to a ransomware attack on an American oil pipeline system in May that disrupted fuel distribution throughout the Southeastern United States. Hackers undermined the system’s computerized managing equipment, eventually causing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue an emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington, D.C.

The Colonial Pipeline hack was the largest cyberattack on an oil infrastructure target in U.S. history, causing fuel shortages amid panic buying in the following days. Following a six-day shutdown, the pipeline’s operations resumed after the company paid a $4.4 million ransom to the hackers, most of which was eventually recovered by the Department of Justice.

“As you all are aware, a ransomware attack happened on May 7 that led to the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline Company’s largest fuel pipeline on the East Coast,” Granholm said in written testimony submitted to the committee. “The White House asked the Department of Energy to coordinate a whole-of-government effort to ensure that the company had the resources necessary to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible, while moving fuel supplies to impacted areas by other means. This incident was a stark reminder of the imperative to harden the nation’s critical infrastructure against these serious and growing cyber threats.”

The funds, if granted, would be used to shore up vulnerabilities in the department’s digital systems. The department would utilize the funds to secure its software supply chain, speed up its transition to a zero-trust security model and secure cloud services, and bolster its cybersecurity threat hunting and response in both information technology and operational technology.

The budget request matches a growing trend among federal agencies following a slew of hacks nationwide that compromised servers belonging to the Treasury and Commerce departments last year. The perpetrating hacker group, known as DarkSide, is believed by the FBI to have attacked U.S. oil and gas infrastructure on four occasions between Dec. 2020 and May 2021.

In May, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at improving the nation’s cybersecurity by removing barriers to sharing threat information among service providers, modernizing federal cybersecurity practices, and standardizing federal response to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents, among other measures.

“In the current threat environment, the department cannot afford to neglect its cybersecurity capabilities, which serve as frontline assets that protect the information, systems, and networks necessary to execute its mission,” Granholm said in a written statement. “Information Technology and Cybersecurity enable every element of [the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s] missions. To meet future requirements, the department must modernize its outdated and legacy technology.”