This shutdown disrupted fuel supplies across the East Coast, causing panic buying and shortages in several states. In response, Colonial Pipeline paid a ransom of about $4.4 million in Bitcoin to the hackers, hoping to quickly restore its systems. However, the decryption tool provided by the attackers was reportedly slow, and the company relied on its own backups for recovery. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice recovered approximately $2.3 million of the ransom by tracing and seizing part of the cryptocurrency payment. The incident prompted federal actions, including a state of emergency declaration and the issuance of Executive Order 14028 to enhance national cybersecurity measures.