What is the latest with M&S and Co-op cyber attacks?

Major UK retailers Marks and Spencer and the Co-op have been victims of suspected cyber attacks and hacking this week.

M&S was impacted last week by what it called a “cyber incident”, leading to online orders not being accepted and empty shelves in some stores.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating the incident.

The retailer said on Thursday it is unable to hire new workers and pulled all online job adverts as a result.

Meanwhile the Co-op, which owns more than 2,000 grocery stores and 800 funeral parlours across the UK, said hackers had attempted to gain access to its systems.

It urged members and customers not to do anything differently while the situation is investigated.

Marks and Spencer victim of reported ‘cyber attack’

Marks and Spencer is still suffering the effects of what it has called a “cyber incident” that began last week.

The retailer is still not taking online orders and shelves in some stores are now empty after it took some of its systems offline in response to the incident.

The retailer’s internal services have been impacted for more than a week.

The incident first affected contactless payment and click-and-collect orders before M&S paused online orders on its app and website, which remain down.

Since the problems began, the company’s stock market value has dropped by more than £700m.

Some stores have reportedly been left with empty shelves.

The company confirmed on Thursday that it has pulled all online job adverts from its website as tech experts seek to resolve problems on its platforms.

A spokeswoman for the business said: “While we proactively manage the cyber incident, we are temporarily pausing some of our normal processes so we can continue to work hard on offering the best M&S for our customers and colleagues.

“Job adverts will be up again in due course.”

On Thursday, the company had no jobs listed anywhere across its UK business despite having more than 200 job openings this time last week.

The London-based business employs around 65,000 people across its head office and stores.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating the incident.

M&S has been contacted for further comment.

Co-op shuts off parts of IT system after attempted hack

The Co-op said it has shut off parts of its IT systems after an attempted hack.

It said some of its back office and call centre services have been affected but that all stores, including grocery and funeral homes, are trading as usual.

The retail firm said it is “working hard to reduce any disruption to our services” and thanked staff and customers for their patience.

The business owns more than 2,000 grocery stores and 800 funeral parlours across the UK.

It is not known whether the hacks of the two retailers are related.

A Co-op spokesman said on Wednesday: “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.”