In June 2025, KNP Logistics Group (formerly Knights of Old), a venerable UK transport firm with 158 years of history, collapsed after a cyberattack that began with a single, easily guessed password. The Akira ransomware gang exploited that weak credential—without needing advanced zero-day exploits—and moved laterally through KNP’s systems, encrypting data, destroying backups, and rendering recovery impossible. Despite carrying industry-standard IT compliance and cyber-attack insurance, KNP lacked viable fallback options and could not meet the estimated £5 million ransom. Within weeks, operations halted, 700 employees lost their jobs, and the company entered administration. The ordeal underscores how a single credential failure can obliterate even the oldest, most respected businesses.
Sources: Hacker News, SpecOpsSoft
Key Takeaways
– A lone weak or guessable password—even in a company with compliance practices and cyber insurance—can act as the breach point that topples the entire business.
– Modern ransomware groups like Akira use destructive tactics (encrypting data, deleting backups, double extortion) to ensure victims have no fallback short of full recovery.
– Cyber resilience demands layered defense: multi-factor authentication, regular backup testing, least-privilege access, and constant credential auditing.
In-Depth
The fall of KNP Logistics is tragic but instructive. This firm, formerly operating under the brand Knights of Old, spent well over a century building trust, routes, client networks, and reputation. In June 2025, however, all of that was undone in days—not by an exotic zero-day exploit or a state actor, but by a single weak password. Hackers from the Akira ransomware gang managed to guess an employee’s credential, gain entry into KNP’s internet-facing systems, and then unleash a full-scale attack across its digital infrastructure.
Once in, attackers didn’t simply encrypt some files. They moved fast: they disabled defenses, escalated privileges, carried out lateral movement, and then struck at the heart of the business by obliterating backups and disaster recovery systems. Without a clean fallback, KNP was left with no route to restore operations. The attackers demanded a ransom estimated at £5 million—an amount KNP could not pay, even with cyber-attack insurance in place. Within weeks, the company went into administration, and roughly 700 employees were left unemployed.
What’s more, KNP had adhered to industry-standard IT compliance and held cyber attack insurance. But compliance and insurance aren’t enough when the foundational hygiene falters. In this case, the weakest link—credential security—undermined the rest. The incident crystallizes how, in modern cyber warfare, access beats sophistication: a simple guess can bypass layers of more advanced defense if credentials are lax.
The KNP collapse also mirrors a broader trend: ransomware adversaries like Akira now lean into speed, destructiveness, and psychological pressure. They don’t need months of stealth—they can weaponize a single entry and force a company into existential crisis. They use double extortion (encrypting data and threatening to leak it) and attack backup systems to squeeze victims from every angle.
For companies trying to weather this era, the lessons are stark. It’s not enough to meet regulatory checklists or patch systems; organizations must proactively harden access points. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) should be mandatory, especially on internet-exposed endpoints. Password hygiene policies must refuse weak or breached passwords. Zero-trust principles should limit what any compromised account can touch. Most critically, backups must be stored offline, tested regularly, and segregated from primary networks.
KNP’s demise should be a wake-up call: no matter how venerable or established a business is, its survival hinges on the smallest cyber details. A strong brand cannot substitute for strong cybersecurity.