A 158-Year-Old Company Closed Its Doors After One Weak Password

KNP Logistics Group wasn’t just another company. It was a legacy—158 years of service, a fleet of 500 trucks, and nearly 700 employees. And after one slip up, it was gone.

The reason? A ransomware breach triggered by a single weak, unprotected password.

The Collapse of a Legacy

The transportation company, known under the Knights of Old brand, was targeted by attackers believed to be part of the Akira ransomware group. Once inside, hackers encrypted nearly all operational data and wiped out both disaster recovery infrastructure and backups.

The company had cyber insurance, but that wasn't enough. With systems down and no viable path to recovery, the organization was forced to cease operations—resulting in mass layoffs, canceled contracts, and a shuttered legacy.

This wasn’t a case of sophisticated zero-day exploits. It was a perfect storm of basic failures: no multi-factor authentication, shared credentials, insufficient backup protocols, and overconfidence in insufficient defenses.

The Industry Reacts

This breach didn’t just shock the business—it sent a message across the industry: ransomware isn’t just a tech problem. It’s a business killer.

Incidents like this highlight the urgent need for stronger cyber hygiene across all sectors. And the risks aren’t isolated to large enterprises or specific regions. Companies of all sizes, in every industry, are discovering that even small lapses—like weak passwords, missing MFA, or poor backup strategies—can escalate into full-blown crises.

Security experts are increasingly urging organizations to treat cybersecurity not as a compliance checkbox, but as a core business function. Regular audits, continuous training, and stronger access controls are quickly becoming non-negotiable.

How Lockwell Helps

KNP’s story is tragic, but preventable. Here’s how Lockwell helps small businesses avoid the same fate:

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Lockwell enforces MFA by default across user accounts—no extra setup required.
  
  
  

• Password Hygiene: Our Vault flags reused or compromised passwords and surfaces risks in real time.
  
  
  

• Role-Based Access Control: Shared credentials are assigned clear ownership and monitored for anomalies.
  
  
  

• Secure Backups: Lockwell protects your data in ways ransomware can’t touch—keeping your continuity plan intact.
  
  
  

• Incident Response Tools: Our built-in reporting and response features help you document and learn from suspicious activity fast.
  
  
  

But perhaps most importantly, Lockwell makes these protections easy to adopt—no IT team required.

Because cybersecurity shouldn't be a barrier. It should be a baseline.