It has been announced that the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday required owners and operators of critical pipelines that transport hazardous liquids and natural gas, will need to seriously upgrade their cyber security measures.

This is in response to the cyber hack by cyber-criminal gang DarkSide that took place, last May, when the Colonial Pipeline cyber systems were hacked. Resulting in significant disruption for days to fuel supplies including the delivery of petrol and aviation fuel to customers in the south-eastern part of the United States.

Amongst the customers affected were motorists, military bases, airports, and seaports in a region that included New York, Atlanta, and Houston. The closure of the 5,500-mile (8,900-km) system was the most disruptive cyberattack on record, preventing millions of barrels of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from flowing to the East Coast from the Gulf Coast.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said, "The lives and livelihoods of the American people depend on our collective ability to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure from evolving threat."

The security directive issued by the Department of Homeland Security requires TSA-designated critical pipelines to take certain mitigation measures to protect against ransomware attacks and other known threats to information technology and operational technology systems, implement a cybersecurity contingency and recovery plan, and conduct a cybersecurity architecture design review.