ransomware

Cybercriminals disrupted the U.S. economy on an unprecedented scale this year, shutting down the U.S.’s largest fuel pipeline, temporarily halting meat processing plants that provide about a fifth of the country’s supply, and going after hospitals, clinics and universities. The pipeline operator, Colonial Pipeline Co. based in Georgia, confirmed in May that it had paid hackers who broke into its computers systems $4.4 million in the ransomware attack. That kind of rich payoff has been…