News 158-year-old company forced to close after ransomware attack precipitated by a single guessed password — 700 jobs lost after hackers demand unpayab...

[bill001g]

There were no details but it is not uncommon when a company merges or is acquired to also get a massive debt at the same time. A lot of companies go bankrupt shortly after these mergers so this might have just pushed them over the edge. All the guys who setup these kind of mergers seem to walk away with lots of money and the employees end up with nothing.

 

[jumble_bacteria792]

Passkey fixes this. Yubikey, trezor, etc. 1 username. 1 password. 1 Yubikey or TOTP.

Even FOSS TOTP “Ente Authenticator” would have prevented this

 

[jumble_bacteria792]

There were no details but it is not uncommon when a company merges or is acquired to also get a massive debt at the same time. A lot of companies go bankrupt shortly after these mergers so this might have just pushed them over the edge. All the guys who setup these kind of mergers seem to walk away with lots of money and the employees end up with nothing.

“Mergers & aquisitions”

 

[snemarch]

Yeah, but the point is that they aren't getting any pay day in this case because they asked for too much....

If they start accepting a lower payout than requested, that might become the norm, and make their total payout sum smaller.

Better to let a few companies burn – that shows they mean business.

 

[BladePocok]

If they start accepting a lower payout than requested, that might become the norm, and make their total payout sum smaller.

Better to let a few companies burn – that shows they mean business.

What do you mean "they mean business"? Were there any case when a ransomware attack was a "joke" and didn't get seriously?

 

[Exploding PSU]

I was just looking for you and trying to remember... who is that mod with the backup truck and missile attack picture?

Not going to lie, that sig image actually got me to start taking backups seriously about a year ago.

And it's been paying dividends. I had at least two important drives fail on me since then, but instead of panicking and calling various data restore companies (which I would've done in the past), I simply spent the weekend replacing the drives and restoring the backup. No fuss, no panicking, no spending cash... just waiting for a progress bar to complete while I do something else.

I'm pretty much a backing up evangelist since then.

 

[USAFRet]

And it's been paying dividends. I had at least two important drives fail on me since then, but instead of panicking and calling various data restore companies (which I would've done in the past), I simply spent the weekend replacing the drives and restoring the backup.

And I've had exactly the same.
Click click, wait til its finished.

 

[ekio]

Something’s fishy.

Like how a 700 employees truck company can collapse from a server attack ?

It’s not like their business is fundamentally built on top of its server data… They must have more to hide.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

People have to realize that it's not nearly as simple as just paying 6 million dollars and going on their marry way. Cyber criminals often times do not have any incentive to actually unlock your data once you pay the ransom. In well known cases like wannacry they just took peoples money and I don't believe anyone got their data decrypted afterwards.

 

[vic_chip]

1 password should NEVER cause this kind of issue. The problem with these stories is they fail to discuss the root cause: Lack of real security controls. Limiting privileges, proper segmentation, etc. etc. etc. Anytime you see 1 compromised user causing massive breaches like this you know the company didn't value or invest in any real security frameworks or culture.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Would have been nice to have had it backed up.

In comprehensible how any company wouldn't. Maybe a good way to keep the books clean should someone come knocking. Claim they are old fashioned and do things in Excel and never has a true IT department?

It's a poor excuse no matter what that they didn't have backups.

I feel something is missing from this story.
I don't see why a Company that employs 700 people and obviously has a large numbers of assets, would not be able to raise $6 million USD and instead choose to collapse.

Maybe but it's a truck company. 700 employees seems like a lot but isn't
maybe in the UK that is high. Nevertheless, I'd imagine a company like that's bills are always keeping trucks maintained, repaired, replaced, fueled, insured and making sure the CEO and board get massive paychecks.

Its not infeasible to assume this was done to simply cease operations without a sale, fines, etc.. (the legal way) but a easy excuse to shutter. My guess is with Brexit along with recent politics, there was more going on and this was a way out.

---

The only people I feel bad for are the workers who lost their jobs overnight. Their IT, Board and CEO should be on the stand if they have the ability to flick a finger and shut the whole thing down for good.

 

[Azhrei21]

Why in the hell would they have their backups not only connected to the main computers but connected to the internet? My backups are on external drives in my closet......

 

[Azrael_Garou]

Would have been nice to have had it backed up.

Would be nice if hacking was taken more seriously as a criminal offense.

 

[Azrael_Garou]

Kinda shocking they'd hit an actual business. Did they run out of hospitals?

 

[USAFRet]

Kinda shocking they'd hit an actual business. Did they run out of hospitals?

They "hit" whatever responds.

All the way down to your grandmas laptop.