Pipeline CEO: Ransom payment among my ‘toughest decisions’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief executive of the massive fuel pipeline hit by ransomware last month will tell senators on Tuesday that authorizing a multi-million-dollar payment to hackers was “one of the toughest decisions I have had to make in my life” but also the right thing to do for the country. Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount will face the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, one day after the Justice Department revealed it had recovered the majority of the $4.4 million ransom payment the company made in hopes of getting its system back online. A second hearing is set for Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee.