According to reports, 700 jobs were lost after a ransomware group broke into KNP Logistics, a 158-year-old UK transport company. According to the BBC, hackers are thought to have gained access to the company’s computer system by figuring out a worker’s password. They then encrypted the data and locked internal systems. Paul Abbott, the director of KNP, has not told the responsible employee that the breach was caused by a hacked password.
Remarkably, the transport company, which mostly uses the Knights of Old moniker, runs about 500 trucks. The business was attacked by the Akira gang using ransomware, even though it had cyber-attack insurance and followed industry IT norms. Unauthorized access to KNP’s system allowed the hackers to encrypt its data and prevent employees from accessing vital company information. The hackers requested a ransom payment in return for the decryption key so they could regain access.
If you are reading this, it indicates that your company’s internal infrastructure is either completely or partially dead. The ransom note stated, “Let’s try to have a productive conversation and keep all the tears and resentment to ourselves.”
Experts calculated that the ransom may be approximately £5 million, however they could not disclose the exact sum. Sadly, KNP was unable to pay, which resulted in the loss of all data and, eventually, the company’s dissolution.
Other well-known UK businesses have also been the targets of similar attacks, including M&S, Co-op, and Harrods. In the instance of Co-op, 6.5 million members’ data was stolen.
Organizations must take action to protect their systems and businesses, according to Richard Horne, CEO of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC).
Instead than developing novel techniques, hackers usually take advantage of pre-existing weaknesses. Hackers are always looking for organizations with weak defenses to exploit, according to Sam, a member of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) team that deals with daily attacks. To detect possible attacks and take action prior to the spread of ransomware, the NCSC consults intelligence sources.
In a recent occasion, hackers were stopped while “Jake” (not his real name) was on night shift. You wish to lessen the harm because you recognize the scope of what is happening. “It can be exciting, particularly if we succeed,” he says.
According to Suzanne Grimmer, who leads a team at the National Crime Agency (NCA), hacking is growing because it is profitable. Over the past two years, the number of instances at her unit, which carried out the initial evaluation of the M&S breach, has almost doubled to 35–40 every week. Ms. Grimmer cautions that if this pattern keeps up, ransomware attacks in the UK could have their worst year ever.
The availability of tools and services that don’t require highly skilled technical knowledge has made hacking more accessible. Ms. Grimmer claims that certain strategies, such social engineering, have made it easier for possible attacks to occur. This includes strategies like phone scams, in which hackers contact IT help desks in an attempt to access systems without authorization.
