I'm not a pipeline expert, but I've been doing computers sense the early 90s. You have a pipe. It has pumps and valves. You have a computer that controls it all. The computer gets hacked. UNPLUG THE DAM COMPUTER... and plug in another one. Then restart the pumps. If they are too incompetent to figure out a workaround then get the hell out of the way and let someone else try.
If there is one thing I've learned with computers its that the guy at the console is god. There is no such thing as taking over from a remote location. Anyone that tells you differently has been watching too many movies. Send real actual human beings out the the pumps, unplug the dam computer and just turn the pump on manually. Yeah, a person might have to watch the pressure and flow rates etc rather than the computer. So the hell what. Get the dam gas flowing again morons.
I've heard it was a stuxnet attack, against the Siemens process management functions. It's how the Iranian centrifuges were attacked. No good reloading compromised components, everything IT would have to be rebuilt from scratch and checked at every step.
Hmm. So you're saying its not servers... or not just the servers, they have infected all the PLC type devices that control the individual values and sensors...?
I guess I could see how that would be a harder problem to solve. Seems a bit odd that a US based company would allow their hardware to be that vulnerable.
But okay maybe... It just seems awfully convenient that this effects the SE... mostly red states... mostly vacations states that have removed WuFlu restrictions and are expecting tons of people to travel there in the next 2-3 months.