KNP

History

2025: Weak employee password causes company bankruptcy

The weak password of an employee of the British transport company KNP from Northamptonshire caused its bankruptcy in 2025. This became known in July 2025. The hacker group Akira infiltrated the corporate network by guessing the password of one of the employees and demanded a ransom of £5 million (₽526,4 million), which led to the closure of the enterprise and the dismissal of 700 employees.

According to the BBC, the transport company, which was founded 158 years ago, did not have the necessary funds to pay the required amount. Fraudsters encrypted all the data of the organization, and as a result, corporate information was irrevocably lost.

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Фото: Freepik

KNP director Paul Abbott said he did not inform the employee that it was his mistake that led to catastrophic consequences. The manager explained his decision by asking: "Would you like to know this when you are in his place?"

According to the UK's National Cyber ​ ​ Security Center, in 2024 there were about 19,000 ransomware attacks in the country. The average buyback is £4 million, with about a third of companies agreeing to pay the required amounts.

In recent months, major British companies, including M&S, Co-op and Harrods, have been hit by hacker attacks. The chief executive of Co-op confirmed that 6.5 million of the company's customers had their personal data stolen.

The head of the National Center cyber security Great Britain , Richard Horn, noted that such attacks occur almost daily. Attackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in the systems information security of organizations.

Ransomware is malicious software that scammers use to block access to files or entire information systems by encrypting them. After that, hackers demand a ransom for restoring access to blocked data.^[1]

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