--- title: One weak password... 700 jobs gone. | daily.dev description: KNP Logistics, a 158-year-old UK transport company, was forced into administration after the Akira ransomware group gained access through a weak, easily... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/one-weak-password-700-jobs-gone--gg9eq44q4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: One weak password... 700 jobs gone. | daily.dev og:description: KNP Logistics, a 158-year-old UK transport company, was forced into administration after the Akira ransomware group gained access through a weak, easily... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/one-weak-password-700-jobs-gone--gg9eq44q4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4.png og:image:alt: One weak password... 700 jobs gone. og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # One weak password... 700 jobs gone. **[Cyber Security](https://daily.dev/sources/cyber_sec)** · [@rvrlx](https://daily.dev/rvrlx) · 62 upvotes · 10 comments ## Summary KNP Logistics, a 158-year-old UK transport company, was forced into administration after the Akira ransomware group gained access through a weak, easily guessed employee password. The attackers encrypted critical data, destroyed backups, and demanded £5 million ransom, leading to 700 job losses. The incident highlights how basic security failures can destroy established businesses, with 45% of compromised passwords being crackable within a minute. Strong password policies, multi-factor authentication, zero-trust architecture, and tested backup systems are essential defenses against such attacks. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ajbrehm** · 26 upvotes > Apparently the hijacked account was superprivileged and had write access to everything. > > I can imagine how that happened, I have heard it so many times. > > Employee: I need admin rights do any work whatsoever. > > IT: No, you need specific rights, please specify what you need. > > Management: IT, why are you blocking [employee]? > > IT: Gives full admin rights to everything. **@nikoladjordjevic** · 2 upvotes > admin123 rip **@a\_meb\_a** · 2 upvotes > weak password... of course **@retamayo816** · 1 upvotes > Sadly for most "old" businesses that are managed by older people have higher risk of such attacks happening due to weak I.T. teams or infra that is not secure. I think this should serve as a lesson about the importance of cyber security **@surajshetty** · 1 upvotes > This incident clearly demonstrates how even long-established companies can fall victim to cyberattacks due to basic security lapses. It’s a stark reminder that cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue, it’s a management responsibility. Leadership must stay up to date with evolving technology and security risks, ensure strong password policies and MFA are enforced, and regularly audit systems and backup strategies. Neglecting these responsibilities can have devastating consequences, as seen with KNP Logistics, where a single weak password led to massive data loss, financial damage, and hundreds of... --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#authentication](https://daily.dev/tags/authentication), [#ransomware](https://daily.dev/tags/ransomware), [#data-breach](https://daily.dev/tags/data-breach) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/one-weak-password-700-jobs-gone--gg9eq44q4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/one-weak-password-700-jobs-gone--gg9eq44q4","headline":"One weak password... 700 jobs gone.","text":"Shared: How One Bad Password Ended a 158-Year-Old Business","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/one-weak-password-700-jobs-gone--gg9eq44q4","datePublished":"2025-09-30T08:17:43.774Z","dateModified":"2025-09-30T08:17:43.783Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rudi van Rooyen","url":"https://daily.dev/rvrlx","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/AATXAJzM6gKu99mFV33CEzyMV2C_mteeqteo8e8p8EaR=s100","description":"IT Systems Administrator","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":6460}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0_ODbtD2--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2008","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":62},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/xcjM3ARDN"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Apparently the hijacked account was superprivileged and had write access to everything.\nI can imagine how that happened, I have heard it so many times.\nEmployee: I need admin rights do any work whatsoever.\nIT: No, you need specific rights, please specify what you need.\nManagement: IT, why are you blocking [employee]?\nIT: Gives full admin rights to everything.","datePublished":"2025-10-07T09:34:51.281Z","dateModified":"2025-10-13T21:44:14.462Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4#c-j60PxWy5V","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew Brehm","url":"https://daily.dev/ajbrehm","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/48602082?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":26}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"admin123 rip","datePublished":"2025-10-15T13:41:40.039Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4#c-dIkv4YUWQ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Nikola Djordjevic","url":"https://daily.dev/nikoladjordjevic","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJKnsKLLDfY3p49uLnTr5ms3qpHMStF_-JsEx1yyXjijTCuaQ=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"weak password… of course","datePublished":"2025-10-08T10:58:49.683Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4#c-4VUNDCbLd","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Phillippe Michel Weir","url":"https://daily.dev/a_meb_a","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--BwH-uTMq--/f_auto/v1740136991/avatars/avatar_N403VFK9lAHNRwlSAhl1h"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Sadly for most “old” businesses that are managed by older people have higher risk of such attacks happening due to weak I.T. teams or infra that is not secure. I think this should serve as a lesson about the importance of cyber security","datePublished":"2025-10-20T04:41:23.723Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4#c-XpnmAr3kO","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"retamayo","url":"https://daily.dev/retamayo816","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/v1682779773/avatars/avatar_gIsVCuq8TmilQhnFiChM7.jpg"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This incident clearly demonstrates how even long-established companies can fall victim to cyberattacks due to basic security lapses. It’s a stark reminder that cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue, it’s a management responsibility. Leadership must stay up to date with evolving technology and security risks, ensure strong password policies and MFA are enforced, and regularly audit systems and backup strategies. Neglecting these responsibilities can have devastating consequences, as seen with KNP Logistics, where a single weak password led to massive data loss, financial damage, and hundreds of job losses.","datePublished":"2025-10-31T16:16:46.084Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/Gg9EQ44Q4#c-nrmrHsequ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Suraj Shetty","url":"https://daily.dev/surajshetty","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--LFItfUJQ--/f_auto/v1761226127/avatars/avatar_gNJKg5K0npw7ASw1zhhU6?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/cyber_sec","name":"Cyber Security"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cyber Security","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/cyber_sec"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"One weak password... 700 jobs gone."}]} ```