Where to find gas: GasBuddy goes down as drivers fill up after Colonial Pipeline cyberattack

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As drivers line up at gas stations on the East Coast in the aftermath of a cyberattack on a vital fuel pipeline, GasBuddy has been a go-to app for finding the nearest spot to fill up.

But it appears GasBuddy might be too popular right now. The site is currently offline, according to a message on its website.

"We will keep checking in the background and, as soon as the site comes back, you will automatically be served the live version," reads a message on the site.

GasBuddy allows users to find the cheapest prices for gas but has risen in popularity due to a crowdsourced fuel availability tracker where users can find which stations still have gas. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the fuel-savings app, said users can go directly to tracker.gasbuddy.com to find more information on fuel availability.

Several states in the southeastern U.S. are experiencing issues with running out of fuel. De Haan said 25% of gas stations in North Carolina are out of gas, while 15% have run out in Virginia and Georgia.

Operators of the Colonial Pipeline, a major system that delivers across the East Coast, had to shut it down Saturday following a ransomware attack.

The Colonial Pipeline says it's aiming to "substantially" restore service by the end of the week, which would likely limit most of the fallout.

(c)2021 U.S. Today. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Citation: Where to find gas: GasBuddy goes down as drivers fill up after Colonial Pipeline cyberattack (2021, May 12) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-gas-gasbuddy-drivers-colonial-pipeline.html
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