- Colonial Pipeline Rewrites the Rules of Cyber Crisis Communications
Colonial Pipeline Rewrites the Rules of Cyber Crisis Communications
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juin 06, 2024
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When faced with one of the most high-profile ransomware attacks in U.S. history, Colonial Pipeline — the largest refined products pipeline operator in the country — turned to FTI Consulting for strategic communications counsel and expertise.
Situation
Colonial Pipeline spans 5,500 miles across 14 states and serves some of the largest airports along the East Coast while providing just under 50 percent of the transportation fuels that power a large part of the country. In May 2021, it faced a ransomware attack that targeted its IT systems. While the cyber attack did not affect the operational technology systems that control the pipeline itself, Colonial Pipeline proactively shut down the system to prevent the ransomware from potentially spreading. The pipeline system ended up being offline for five days, creating a number of communication challenges the company had to navigate. FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications segment was engaged to help the company navigate through the cyber attack, involving two distinct mandates: responding to the ransomware attack and the communications around the pipeline restart process.
Our Role
- FTI Consulting provided the company early counsel on key stakeholder engagement and helped guide the organization’s communications through the initial days and weeks following the restart of the system.
- The FTI Consulting team supported the development and execution of a crisis communications strategy, produced materials for company stakeholders, supported daily briefings to senior government officials in the White House and Department of Energy and managed the company’s media engagement, which included more than 1,000 inquiries.
- FTI Consulting supported the company in the months following the event as it worked through the system hardening and data recovery phases, which included employee, customer and shipper notifications. The team also helped prepare the CEO to testify before two congressional committees about the company’s response to the ransomware attack.
Our Impact
- Colonial Pipeline successfully navigated the largest ransomware attack in U.S. history and prevented the pipeline shutdown from delivering major and lasting economic impacts along the East Coast through constant government, public and media engagement.
- In 2022, Colonial Pipeline received the Silver Anvil Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America for its communications response to the ransomware attack and navigating a national crisis.
Date
juin 06, 2024
Contacts
Senior Managing Director
Senior Managing Director, Head of Americas Strategic Communications
Senior Managing Director, Head of Americas Public Affairs
Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Communications