Marks & Spencer's Online Platform Faces Downtime Due to Ransomware Intrusion Impacting Operations
Marks & Spencer (M&S) faced a temporary interruption in its online services early Tuesday morning, approximately twelve hours after the retail company disclosed a £300 million decline in profits following a ransomware attack last month. The M&S website was inaccessible, with a holding page informing customers of the browsing disability. By 7 a.m., the site was restored, and M&S communicated to Sky News that it was functioning normally. The company attributed the outage to overnight updates aimed at returning services to normal for customers.
Since the incident on April 22, online purchases have been suspended. M&S anticipates that it may take a few weeks to restore partial services entirely. The retailer suffered a data breach, likely perpetrated by the Scattered Spider hacking group, which has also been linked to attacks on The Co-op and Harrods. Although customer personal data, including names, addresses, and birthdates, were compromised, payment information and passwords remained secure.
Last week, M&S acknowledged that some customer data had been stolen but assured no usable payment or card details were involved. Passwords were not affected, but there are reports suggesting that contact details such as phone numbers were taken.
The company's valuation has experienced a significant drop, exceeding £1 billion, as the fallout persists. Chief Executive Stuart Machin remains optimistic, stating that M&S is "on the road to recovery" and that they will emerge stronger post-incident, continuing their plan to revitalize M&S for customers, employees, and shareholders. M&S's continued reshaping efforts are expected to extend into July as the company diligently works to address the disruptions caused by this event.
- In light of the recent ransomware attack and subsequent data breach, M&S's ongoing cybersecurity issues have led to coverage in general-news outlets, including sky-news, focusing on crime-and-justice aspects and the impact on technology.
- As the Scattered Spider hacking group has been associated with various attacks on prominent retail companies like M&S, the science community is paying attention to the group's tactics and potential advancements in cybersecurity threats.
- Amidst the temporary service interruption, M&S's stock valuation has experienced a decline, raising concerns not just for M&S but for the future of online retail and the critical role of cybersecurity in technology advancements.
