How a company went bankrupt because of a single password #shorts
39He or she will likely never know that it was their password that opened the door to cybercriminals. KNP's management made this choice: to protect the affected employee from the psychological burden of such responsibility.
In a documentary broadcast on the BBC on July 21, 2025, Paul Abbott, CEO of KNP, recounts this incredible story: a single password, unfortunately too weak, was enough to bring down this company, which was over a century and a half old. The identity of the employee whose password was compromised has never been revealed, either internally or publicly. "You'd like to know if it was you?" asks the former boss.
Since its founding in 1865, KNP Logistics, through its subsidiary Knights of Old, had established itself as a major player in the transport sector in Great Britain. A true economic pillar of Northamptonshire, in the heart of England, this company operated a fleet of over 500 trucks, connecting cities and regions across the country.
A made-in-UK success story whose fortunes abruptly changed in 2023 when a ransomware attack paralyzed its IT infrastructure. Within a few months, the company was forced to file for bankruptcy, leaving 700 employees unemployed.
"If you are reading this, it means that your company's internal infrastructure is totally or partially down... Let's keep our tears and resentment to ourselves and try to engage in a constructive dialogue." This is the note the hackers left for KNP management.
Belonging to the Akira cybercriminal group, the virtual ravens paralyzed the company's entire operations. Ransomware took over computers, encrypts files, and paralyzes even the smallest logistics service. Operations came to a grinding halt and would only resume if management shoveled its hands in the bankruptcies.
KNP has neither the means nor the certainty that paying would truly pave the way for a return to normal. No specific amount is being demanded by the cybercriminals, but according to a specialist firm cited by the BBC, the amount could have reached five million pounds.
The company is trying to defend itself and restore its systems, in vain. The clock is ticking and the situation is getting worse. KNP can no longer serve its customers, its partners are losing confidence, and its cash flow is collapsing. On September 25, 2023, after three months of paralysis and rescue attempts, the company is forced to file for bankruptcy.
KNP is not an isolated case. According to figures from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), thousands of British companies are targeted by this type of attack each year, and it has never been easier to launch an attack. Some ransomware is available for hire, and the first breaches are almost always human.
How can we stop this phenomenon? Perhaps by making the ransomware business less lucrative. Recently, the British government has been considering banning ransom payments and making attack reporting mandatory in an effort to disrupt cybercriminals' business model.