Marks and Spencer says teams are working “day and night” to restore the store to normal operation, after the retailer faced a cyber attack in past weeks
Bosses at Marks and Spencer have issued another update to their customers, following the news that the store had been hit by a cyber attack in previous weeks.
Over the past weeks M&S has confirmed that it has been facing a “cyber incident” after customers reported problems with Click & Collect services and with making contactless payments over the Easter bank holiday weekend.
M&S has since gone on to pause all online orders through their website and app, as part of their management of the cyber attack.
On May 2, M&S issued a further update to its customers saying the team was working “day and night” to manage the attack.
On Instagram, M&S Chief Executive Stuart Machin wrote: “We are really sorry that we’ve not been able to offer you the service you expect from M&S over the last week. We are working day and night to manage the current cyber incident and get things back to normal as quickly as possible.
“Thank you from me and everyone at M&S for all the support you have shown us. We do not take it for granted and we are incredibly grateful.
“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.”
The retailer has since also confirmed that contactless payments are working across all of its stores. However, the store’s website still issues a notice to shoppers saying online orders have been “paused”.
While M&S have not been able to confirm when online orders will be resumed, the retailer has confirmed that the retailer has been working alongside leading cyber experts to restart online and app shopping.
M&S’s latest update on the incident comes after the Co-op and Harrods both also reported facing cyber incidents this week.
A spokesman for the Co-op said: “We have recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems. As a result, 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 centre services.
“We are not asking our members or customers to do anything differently at this point. We will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
A spokesperson for Harrods yesterday added: “We recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems. 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. Customers can also continue to shop via harrods.com. We are not asking our customers to do anything differently at this point and we will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
M&S, Co-op and Harrods stores are open as usual, despite disruption caused.
