One weak password destroyed a company with 158 years of history and left 700 people unemployed

Transportation firm KNP Logistics is just one of a large number of victims of the Akira ransomware group. In this case, the hackers simply guessed the password of one of the employees and locked down internal systems, demanding a ransom.

In 2023, KNP operated 500 trucks — most of them under the Knights of Old brand. The company claimed that its IT system met industry standards and allegedly had insurance against cyberattacks.

The most recent attack, according to experts, demanded a ransom of 5 million pounds (about $7 million) — a heavy financial burden that eventually forced the 158-year-old firm to declare bankruptcy. About 700 people lost their jobs.

At the same time, the company’s CEO, Paul Abbott, did not disclose the name of the employee whose password was compromised — neither to him nor to his colleagues, given the potential psychological burden on the person.

The collapse of KNP is just part of a wider wave of ransomware attacks targeting British businesses. Major retailers including Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods have all been hit by cybercriminals in recent months. As a result, the former recorded about 40 million pounds ($54 million) in weekly losses.

According to Suzanne Grimmer, a spokeswoman for the National Crime Agency, over the past two years The number of hacker attacks has almost doubled over the past 2 years, reaching 35-40 per week.

Obviously, the financial impact of attacks is also growing. Recent studies have shown that more than 80% of data breaches were related to compromised passwords, while the average cost of a cyberattack in the UK increased to 3.58 million pounds ($4.8 million) between 2023 and 2024. For small businesses like KNP, these costs could be fatal.

Source: BBC, CyberSecurityNews