A UK-based transportation company with a venerable 158-year history has collapsed in the wake of a ransomware attack. Around 500 Northamptonshire-based Knights of Old (KNP) trucks are now off the road, and 700 people have lost their jobs, due to money-grasping cyberattackers, named as ‘Akira’ in a BBC report.
The internet-connected criminals are said to have gained access to KNP’s internet systems via a weak password that was used by one of the employees at the firm. Actually, the password was so weak it was simply guessed correctly, it is thought. Naturally, KNP doesn't want to name the specific employee whose password was compromised. After breaking this weakest link, the hackers encrypted and locked KNP’s operational data. The cyber villains then told KNP that the only way to get their data unlocked would be to pay.
