The boss of Marks & Spencer has urged customers to come into its stores to shop in person this bank holiday weekend as the retailer works “day and night” to tackle the cyber-attack that has crippled its online operation.
The retailer’s IT systems were hit by a major ransomware attack almost two weeks ago. It is still not taking online orders, and the availability of some products in its stores has been affected after it took some of its systems offline in response.
“We are really sorry that we’ve not been able to offer you the service you expect from M&S over the last week,’ said the chief executive, Stuart Machin, in a post to customers on LinkedIn. “We are working day and night to manage the current cyber incident and get things back to normal for you as quickly as possible.
“Our teams are doing the very best they can, and are ready to welcome you into our stores – whether you are shopping for food or for fashion, home and beauty this bank holiday weekend.”
M&S first reported problems over the Easter weekend, when it stopped taking click-and-collect orders and its contactless payments were affected. Contactless payments have since restarted.
The Metropolitan police have confirmed they are investigating a cyber-attack, with a hacking collective known as Scattered Spider linked to the incident.
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A spate of cyber incidents have hit retailers over the past week, including the Co-op, which shut off parts of its IT systems after an attempted hack, and the luxury department store Harrods, which revealed on Thursday that it had also had to power off some systems.
The National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with the affected companies but warned all UK businesses that the incidents “should act as a wake-up call” on the importance of having measures in place to protect against and respond to attacks.
More than £650m has been wiped off the market value of M&S since the cyber-attack. On Thursday it emerged that M&S has been forced to pause hiring new workers while tech experts deal with the consequences of the hack.
The company said it had pulled all online job postings from its website and put its recruitment systems on hold.
The company, which employs about 65,000 people in its stores and London head office, had no jobs listed anywhere across its UK business on Thursday despite having more than 200 job openings the previous week.
Source: theguardian.com
