6 times when hackers forced companies to go bankrupt and shut down

Abeerah Hashim Last updated: September 14, 2022 Read time: 7 minutes Disclosure

Do you think of a cyberattack as a faraway thing? It’s time to strengthen your firm’s cybersecurity. Find here how companies were forced to shut down due to hackers.

Sneak peek at how companies are forced to shut down

Cybersecurity attacks have become so common today that no single day goes by when a business is not attacked. From malware to devastating ransomware attacks, organizations face many cyber threats, preventing which is not always easy for many. Companies need to spare a considerable amount of money and resources to devise and deploy effective cybersecurity strategies. But they often fail at doing so, thus falling prey to hacking attacks. Sometimes, these attacks even force companies to shut down their businesses as they become unable to cope with the financial and reputational losses. In this article, we review a few events that triggered the victim firms to shut down following hacking attacks. Read along to learn a lesson and craft measures to protect your own business against online threats.

When you hear of hacking and cyber attacks, most of you would perceive these terms as something from sci-fi movies.

Nonetheless, it’s high time to realize that hacking isn’t a fictional thing. Nor is it rare.

From cracking your personal account passwords to taking over your firm’s IT structure, everything is an example of a cyberattack.

During the past few years, hackers have been really active in the wild. They have carried out highly devastating campaigns. In fact, the subsequent damages from these attacks even forced victim companies to shut down completely.

hackers companies shut down
(123RF)

The dilemma is that the C-suite of any organization never understands the true potential of a cyberattack until they fall victim to such an incident. Little do they realize that preventive measures can’t be taken after the damage is done.

With this article, we’ll take a look at the six devastating cyberattacks that forced the victim business to shut down.

We do not discuss these incidents for creating fear or panic. Instead, we aim to make our readers realize the importance of cybersecurity, regardless of whether you own big or small businesses.

6 companies that were forced to shut down after cyber attacks

1. Code Spaces

Code Space was a code hosting company that existed a few years ago. It offered various project management tools to its customers.

The company suffered a devastating DDoS attack in June 2014 that caused severe service disruption. The attackers also stepped ahead to access the firm’s cloud databases and wipe off the data backups, configurations, and delete offsite backups either wholly or partially.

The attack lasted for about 12 hours. After that, it left the firm inoperable due to the very high recovery costs. The firm confirmed the reasoning behind their shut down in a disclosure.

2. The Heritage Company

UK-based telemarketing The Heritage Company stirred the news world as it announced an unexpected shut down in December 2019. The announcement came days before Christmas, leaving around 300 employees unemployed.

What made them shut down like this? A ransomware attack!

While announcing the decision via a Facebook post, the company CEO Sandra Franecke admitted that the ransomware attack that hit the firm two months earlier caused huge losses.

Although she hoped it to be a temporary closure, things were clear. After running for 61 years, the Heritage Company is no more since then.