Cyberattacks have caused disruptions at UK retailers Co-op, Harrods, and Marks & Spencer (M&S), which are now scrambling to restore their operations to normal.
M&S was hit over the Easter weekend, when gift card payment and in-store click-and-collect services became unavailable. Last week, the company decided to suspend orders via its websites and applications, while keeping stores open.
“We are working day and night to manage the current cyber incident and get things back to normal for you as quickly as possible,” M&S told customers this morning, in a message it shared with SecurityWeek. The company refrained from providing further details on the incident.
Food chain giant Co-op was forced to disconnect certain systems earlier this week after experiencing “attempts to gain unauthorized access to some of our systems”.
“We have taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe, which has resulted in a small impact to some of our back office and call center services. All our stores (including quick commerce operations) and funeral homes are trading as usual,” a Co-op spokesperson told SecurityWeek.
The company said it was pushing hard to minimize the disruption, but did not comment on the nature of the attack, nor did it say if an extortion attempt was made.
“We are not asking our members or customers to do anything differently at this point. We will continue to provide updates as necessary,” the spokesperson said.
According to a BBC report, the company asked its employees to turn cameras on during remote meetings and verify attendees, which suggests that it might be worried that the hackers have not been evicted from its network.
Harrods too confirmed to SecurityWeek that hackers attempted to access some of its systems, and that the response actions resulted in certain in-store disruptions.
“Our seasoned IT security team immediately took proactive steps to keep systems safe and as a result we have restricted internet access at our sites today. Currently all sites including our Knightsbridge store, H beauty stores and airport stores remain open to welcome customers,” a Harrods spokesperson said.
The company’s online store was not impacted by the incident, the spokesperson said, refraining from sharing further details on the incident.
It is unclear whether the three cyberattacks are linked or coincidence. SecurityWeek has not seen any known ransomware group claiming responsibility for any of them.
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