Cyber Attack: Britain's 158 year old transport company KNP Logistics became the victim of cyber attack due to just a weak password.

Cyber Attack: Britain's 158 year old transport company KNP Logistics became the victim of cyber attack due to just a weak password. Hackers guessed the password of an employee and intruded into the system and then locked the entire data through ransomware. Due to this, the company had to shut down operations and 700 employees lost their jobs.

Cyber attacks are increasing, even big companies are not spared

KNP's case is not the only one. Recently, big companies like M&S, Co-op and Harrods have also fallen victim to similar attacks. The CEO of Co-op confirmed that the data of their 6.5 million members has been stolen.

Ransomware gang 'Akira' blew away data

The gang that attacked KNP was Akira. According to the company's security policy, they had cyber insurance and the system was protected as per industry standards, but the gang still managed to take control of the system. Employees were unable to access the data, and the hackers demanded a ransom that could be estimated to be up to £5 million (about Rs 50 crore).

'Your system is now dead'

The message left by the hackers read, "If you are reading this, it means that your company's system is completely or partially dead... Let's leave the tears and anger aside and start the conversation." The company did not have such a huge amount and as a result, all the data was lost and KNP was completely shut down.

NCSC warning

According to Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), they deal with at least one major cyber attack every day. This organization is a part of GCHQ like MI5 and MI6 and works on cyber security. An officer of NCSC "Sam" says that hackers are not doing any magic, they just keep looking for the weak link and as soon as a company misses, they attack.

Cybercrime is becoming a business worth crores

NCSC believes that ransomware has now become a national security threat. According to a government survey, there were about 19,000 ransomware attacks in the UK in the year 2024. Research shows that on an average the ransom demanded in every attack is around Rs 40 crore and about one-third of the companies quietly pay the money.