A single guessed password has led to a cyberattack that put a fully insured 158-year-old company out of business despite security practices being up to code

Ransomware keyboard illustration.

It may just be a recurring nightmare for me, but one employee's weak password has led to the close of an entire company. According to the BBC, that's all it took to take down the 158-year long running transportation firm in the United Kingdom when the password was merely guessed, granting criminals access to the company's systems back in 2023.

It seems the unnamed employee chose the password equivalent of a wet paper bag for a password which has now left around 700 people without jobs. That's the current story around the close of Knights of Old, a Northamptonshire transport company owned by KNP.