158-year-old company collapses after a hacking attack, 700 people lost their jobs

Just one hacker attack is enough to bring down a company that has been on the market for over a century. This happened to Knights of Old, a transport company in Northamptonshire, UK, which led to 700 people losing their jobs. Hackers blocked access to the servers and destroyed the company's data. At the same time, they demanded a ransom so high that the Knights of Old had no chance of paying it (via Tom's Hardware).

Weak password brought the company down

According to the BBC report, the culprit of the problems is an anonymous employee who secured his account with a too weak password. The hackers probably guessed it correctly; they didn't have to resort to phishing or other data extraction methods. Next, the attackers encrypted the Knights of Old database, and demanded a ransom to remove the blockade.

The company did have insurance for cyber attacks, and they used it. The crisis response team arrived at the scene, but the diagnosis wasn't positive. Apart from encrypting the data, the hackers also destroyed all the backup copies, emergency recovery, and breached the endpoints. The insurer described the situation as the worst possible.

The Knights of Old contacted the hackers to find out how much money they want. It turned out that the ransom is 5 million pounds, which is over 6 million bucks. The company didn't have such money, which ultimately led it to bankruptcy. As a result, 700 people lost their jobs and 500 cars are just sitting there unused.

The incident shows how important it is to secure your accounts, including business ones. One mistake opens the door to internal systems for hackers who are just waiting for such opportunities. The case of Knights of Old stands out because, as the BBC reports, similar attacks on companies happen all the time, but hackers rarely succeed with just guessing the password correctly.

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