Hackers Sink 158-Year-Old Company Over Weak Password

The British transportation company KNP Logistics Group Limited (KNP) was one of thousands of businesses hit by the recent wave of cyberattacks led by multiple ransomware gangs and announced that it must shut down. The company could not pay the ransom, and its investigation revealed that hackers gained access to its internal system due to an employee’s weak password.

According to the BBC, the 158-year-old company was forced to cease operations and lay off 700 employees. The cybersecurity investigation unveiled that hackers had guessed one employee’s weak password, accessed the system, encrypted all data, and locked it.

In KNP’s case, the ransomware gang linked to the attack was Akira, whose hackers managed to breach the system in June 2024. The company has now released more details of the incident.

"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," read the ransom note.

The hackers didn’t request a specific sum, but a ransomware negotiation company informed KNP that the cybercriminals would likely request around £5 million. The company stated they did not have the funds to meet that demand.

Paul Abbott, KNP director, told the BBC they haven’t told the employee that their compromised password led to the breach. "Would you want to know if it was you?" said Abbott in an interview.

Other companies affected by the wave of cyberattacks linked to another hacker group, DragonForce, such as Marks & Spencer and Co‑operative Group Limited, have confirmed recent breaches and have been managing the incident for weeks.

Last week, Co-op apologized to the 6.5 million members affected by the breach, but has not disclosed the cost of the attack.

Companies in the UK usually don’t have to report the attacks and almost never disclose whether ransoms were paid, which makes it difficult to share accurate statistics. However, research revealed that around 19,000 ransomware attacks affected businesses in the region last year.