The Colonial Pipeline incident stands as a landmark example of how a minorlapse in IT security can cause a massive disruption to critical OT functions. InMay 2021, the DarkSide ransomware group gained initial access to ColonialPipeline’s corporate network through a compromised Virtual Private Network(VPN) account.

The key vulnerability was the lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) on thislegacy system. Although the password was described as “complex,” it had beenacquired in a separate data breach, providing a persistent and exploitable entry point. Once inside, the hackers moved laterally, stealing approximately 100gigabytes of data and deploying ransomware that encrypted critical IT systems,including accounting and billing systems.

Although the OT pipeline itself was not directly encrypted, the pipeline’s relianceon administrative and logistical IT systems forced Colonial to proactively shutdown thousands of miles of pipeline to contain the spread and prevent furtherdamage to vulnerable OT components. The cost included a $4.4 million ransompayment and severe economic disruption across the US East Coast.

The attack succeeded because the traditional VPN gateway offered a single, persistent, and discoverable ingress point defined by network trust. Even if the password were compromised, a Zero Trust approach would have nullified this access.

BlastWave’s technology replaces this static VPN with Network Cloaking. Thissystem ensures that network connections are ephemeral, identity-defined, andrequire continuous validation. Crucially, the VPN endpoint would not be discoverable or persistent on the public internet.