Across the East Coast, drivers are waiting in long queues for gas.
At least 12,000 gas stations have reported running dry.
And the national average price of a gallon of gas has risen above $3 for the first time in more than six years. Our tech expert, Jeff Brown, says he paid $4 a gallon three days ago.
If you’re of a certain age, this will trigger memories of the 1970s.
In 1973, and again in 1979, Americans also faced long lines when they tried to fill up their tanks.
Things got so bad… some gas stations adopted a flag system to cope.
A green flag meant gas was readily available. A yellow flag meant there were rations. A red flag meant there was no more gas.
But there’s an important difference between the 1970s and today… And it points to an economic menace even more devastating than widespread gas shortages.
In October 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
And President Nixon began an airlift operation to resupply Israel with arms.
The OPEC oil cartel, which is made up of mostly Arab nations, struck back at the U.S. with an oil embargo.
This crushed supply… and sent prices rocketing from $2.90 to as much as $11.60 a barrel.
Flash forward to today. The cause of the gas pipeline shutdown isn’t an attack with tanks in the Sinai Peninsula… It’s an attack in cyberspace.
On Friday, hackers knocked out a pipeline company that delivers roughly half the gas used along the East Coast.
This a major escalation in the long-brewing cyberwar we’ve been warning you about. It shows that hackers can inflict damage in the real world… not just online.
As colleague Dan Denning put it to members of our Legacy Inner Circle advisory in February 2017…
If I had to put my money on the cause of the next big crisis, it’s cyberwarfare. The tools to wage that kind of war are already out there. They’re in the hands of foreign intelligence services. But they’re also in the hands of non-state actors. Some of these people have axes to grind. Some just want to watch the world burn.
This cyberwarfare includes the prospect of a “digital 9/11” – a cyberattack so devastating it brings the country to its knees.
Most folks don’t know it… But hackers can take over and destroy everything from your car, to the traffic lights on your street, to the grid that powers your home.
So today, we’ll look at how the cyberwar has escalated to target real-world infrastructure… and why Jeff says now is the time to put cybersecurity stocks on your shopping list.
I’ll also share his three-step plan for defending against cyberattacks aimed at you and your family.
It’s a private company headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.
It runs more than 5,500 miles of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and home heating oil pipelines.
And it delivers more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily from refineries on the Gulf Coast to folks in the Northeast.
That’s the largest pipeline system for refined petroleum products in the U.S.
You’d think a pipeline company that critical to the national infrastructure would be well protected against hackers.
But on Friday, a cybercrime gang took down Colonial’s entire operation.
The attack on Colonial was a ransomware attack.
A hacker gang called DarkSide infected its IT systems with computer malware.
This encrypted Colonial’s data… making its systems unusable.
The hackers then demanded a ransom in return for the decryption key.
Bloomberg News reported that Colonial paid the hackers $5 million worth of untraceable cryptocurrency hours after the attack. Colonial says it has partially got its pipelines back up and running.
But it’s still nowhere near back to full capacity. And millions of Americans are now having trouble buying gas.
German hospitals have been fighting a wave of ransomware attacks like this during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authorities there even investigated whether one of these attacks led to a patient’s death.
They concluded it hadn’t. But the concern highlights how vulnerable a target hospitals are.
Power grids are also at risk.
In 2015 and 2016, Russian cyberattacks caused widespread power outages across Ukraine.
And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed that Russians have infiltrated “critical infrastructure” in the U.S. such as power plants, water treatment facilities, and gas pipelines.
Experts say hackers could achieve “hands-on-the-switches” access to grid control systems if they’re successful.
This would allow them to fry the grid.
In the Ukraine case, hackers opened one circuit breaker after another… eventually taking about 30 substations offline.
This left a total of 230,000 Ukrainians without power.
Yes, you read that right.
In 2015, Wired magazine had two hackers remotely take control of a Jeep Cherokee by way of its internet-connected entertainment system.
Tech journalist Andy Greenberg was driving at 70 miles per hour on the edge of downtown St. Louis when the hackers took over. As he reported…
Though I hadn’t touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. […] Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass. […]
As the two hackers remotely toyed with the air-conditioning, radio, and windshield wipers, I mentally congratulated myself on my courage under pressure. That’s when they cut the transmission.
Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape. The experiment had ceased to be fun.
And the more devices we connect to the internet – including home thermostats, smart speakers, and home robots – the more vulnerable we become.
We’ve seen several high-profile hacks of information in the past. But this Colonial story is the first time a hack has caught the nation’s attention by knocking out critical infrastructure.
Jeff says it will be a catalyst for shares in companies that are first-line defenders against the bad guys. As he told readers of his daily e-letter, The Bleeding Edge…
The tech is widely available to protect the networks of these vital organizations, and cybersecurity companies have been talking about these threats for years.
But there is a bias – especially in old industries such as infrastructure and utilities – that tells folks, “Everything has been fine… We haven’t had any trouble.” This thinking has led to a lack of will to bring security systems up to date.
As consumers and businesses don’t have gas to fill up their cars and trucks, or electricity to fuel their electric vehicles and homes, I suspect the bias will swing quickly in the other direction. That should create some tremendous opportunities for the best cybersecurity companies.
Take his CyberArk (CYBR) recommendation.
It’s a cybersecurity firm that specializes in credential management. It helps firms ensure that the only people who access their systems are credentialed employees.
In June 2017, Jeff recommended CYBR to readers of our Exponential Tech Investor advisory. And in September 2019, he recommended readers sell it for a 113% profit.
Jeff is always looking for more cybersecurity plays to recommend. And it’s something you should also have on your radar as a big-picture trend.
If you’re not yet a Jeff subscriber… and you’re looking for a second-best way to play this trend… the largest related exchange-traded fund (ETF) is the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR).
It allows you to own a basket of leading cybersecurity stocks.
He says there are three basic steps everyone should take right now to protect their homes from cyber attackers…
First, always make sure you’ve downloaded all current software updates for whatever system you are using. New software releases nearly always have important security patches embedded within them even if they’re not the main purpose of the release. So make sure all the software you’re using is up to date.
Second, get an antivirus software package. Something like Kaspersky Labs, Norton AntiVirus, or AVG – those are three of the larger providers. Sign up for one and pay for the annual subscription.
These companies track all known malware in real time, day in and day out. Whenever they find something, they block that malware from infecting your computer. They’re not perfect. But they will typically weed out 99% of potential threats.
Third, upgrade to the latest version of your operating system, Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS. The first two steps are things you can do today. The third step takes a little bit more effort because you’ve got to do a complete system upgrade.
Please take the time to implement these steps now. Ransomware attacks… identity theft… and financial theft are all increasingly common.
Following these three steps will put you ahead of 99% of home computer users – even corporations, for that matter.
Regards,
 |
Chris Lowe
May 13, 2021
Barcelona, Spain