In May 2021, the Colonial Pipeline, the largest refined oil pipeline in the US, was crippled by a ransomware attack exploiting weak VPN security and leaked credentials. The hack led to fuel shortages, panic buying, and a $4.4M ransom payment. Despite partial ransom recovery by the FBI, the incident exposed major gaps in US critical infrastructure cybersecurity. Two years on, cyber threats to essential systems persist, with little meaningful change in defenses. 

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