700 people left jobless: How a simple password mistake led to shut down of UK's 158-year-old company
KNP
- a Northamptonshire transport company by guessing an employee's password. After cracking the password, the cyber criminals encrypted the company's data and locked its internal systems, leaving staff unable to access any of the data needed to run the business.. The report states that KNP runs 500 lorries under the brand name Knights of Old and had its IT complied with industry standards.
Hackers demanded nearly £5 million as ransom
After tapping into the company's computer system, the hackers left a ransom note. It said: 'If you're reading this it means the internal infrastructure of your company is fully or partially dead…Let's keep all the tears and resentment to ourselves and try to build a constructive dialogue'.
While the ransomware gang did not specify the exact amount they wanted in return for giving access back to the company, experts estimate it could be around £5 million.
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The BBC report states that KNP did not have the amount, subsequently leading to all data loss and the company's demise.
Cyber attacks on companies have increased in recent times. Big names such as M&S, Co-op and Harrods have all been victims of such attacks in the past months.
Marks & Spencer $400 million cyberattack
In May this year, Marks and Spencer (M&S) was hit by a cyberattack impacting its online services which was then projected to cost the group 300 million pounds ($404 million). The British retailer disclosed that personal customer data had been stolen in a cyberattack, which has already crippled its online operations for several weeks.
"In Fashion, Home & Beauty, online sales and trading profit have been heavily impacted by the necessary decision to pause online shopping, however stores have remained resilient," M&S noted in a statement (via news agency AFP). The company anticipates that "online disruption to continue throughout June and into July as we restart, then ramp up operations."
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