Weak password allowed hackers to sink a 158-year-old company

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gx28815wo

One password is believed to have been all it took for a ransomware gang to destroy a 158-year-old company and put 700 people out of work.

KNP - a Northamptonshire transport company - is just one of tens of thousands of UK businesses that have been hit by such attacks.

Big names such as M&S, Co-op and Harrods have all been attacked in recent months. The chief executive of Co-op confirmed last week that all 6.5 million of its members had had their data stolen.

In KNP's case, it's thought the hackers managed to gain entry to the computer system by guessing an employee's password, after which they encrypted the company's data and locked its internal systems.

KNP director Paul Abbott says he hasn't told the employee that their compromised password most likely led to the destruction of the company.

"Would you want to know if it was you?" he asks.

Weak password allowed hackers to sink a 158-year-old company

Transport company KNP forced to shut down after international hacker gangs target thousands of UK businesses.

www.bbc.com

 

[Sorrento]

Saw that earlier, a couple of people in my close family run small businesses & forwarded the link from BBC to them just for people to be aware.

 

[Wrecker4923]

The risk is catastrophic. Sizeable companies should encourage or compel their employees to use password managers and strong 2FA, and provide training on good cybersecurity practices.