The Co-op’s top boss has issued an apology to their customers after the company was rocked by a “highly sophisticated” cyber-attack The Manchester-based conglomerate, which includes brands like Marks and Spencer and Harrods in its collective, joins a growing list of retailers that have been struck by significant IT system hacks recently. In an email to customers on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq confessed that the enterprise is still battling with “experiencing significant disruption” as a result of the digital assault.
Khoury-Haq stated: “Actively managing the severity of the attack has meant shutting down some of our systems to protect the organisation.” “As previously communicated, we have established that the cyber criminals were able to access a limited amount of member data.” She expressed her distress over the breach, stating: “This is obviously extremely distressing for our colleagues and members, and I am very sorry this happened.” On Tuesday, it surfaced that three Manchester-based stores displayed signs stating they had reverted to “cash only” due to non-functional card machines, throwing modern payment conveniences into disarray.
It’s been reported that even the contactless payment options have fallen victim at a few venues, with teams currently striving to rectify the issue and resume standard services. Customers have stumbled upon barren shelves and advisories attributing the dwindling product availability to the recent cyber attack.