Weak password risks have been warned by security experts for years and now a 158-year-old UK company has seen the perils of not keeping things secure. According to a BBC report, hackers were able to bypass its strict security and they did that by using one of the company’s employees to breach its system and gain access to confidential and personal data.

The report quotes the director of the company, KNP, who attributed the breach to an exposed password belonging to an employee. The hackers used the access to seek ransom from the company in lieu of all the data that is available through the exposed system. 

Password Breach Made Easy 

Passwords are essential for how you use your digital accounts and company channels. Experts have always advised people to set up a strong password so that breaking them won’t be easy. But that’s exactly what has proven to be the reason why KNP has seen its system compromised. The hackers were able to guess the password of one KNP employee and successfully doing that forced the company into an unwanted ransomware situation. 

Paying A Heavy Price 

Hackers have encrypted the data they have accessed through KNP’s system which has made it impossible for the staff to use or even view for their own business. The hackers have demanded a ransom to retrieve the data, and even shared a note, which reads, “ If you’re reading this, it means the internal infrastructure of your company is fully or partially dead…Let’s keep all the tears and resentment to ourselves and try to build a constructive dialogue." 

The company was unable to meet the demands of the ransom which meant they could not get back the important business data, and that resulted in the company to fold because of the heavy losses. 

Businesses Need To Upgrade 

Companies like KNP and their situation should paint a scary picture for other entities and the need to strengthen their passwords and cybersecurity infrastructure. They need to invest heavily in upgrading the tools, upskill and educating their employees about the value of setting up strong passwords, or else news like KNP shutting down will only increase in the years to come.