Harrods has become the latest retailer to be hit by a cyber attack. The cyber incident at the luxury department store is the latest in a spate of cyber crime targeting retailers. It comes just days after a hack forced Co-op to shut down some of its IT systems, while M&S is still enduring ongoing disruption after a cyber attack, which first took hold over the Easter weekend.

Hack at Harrods forces IT disruption, but stores remain open

The Guardian reported that the Harrods hack took place earlier this week and had prompted the retailer to shut down some of its IT systems. However, it said that all of its stores, including its flagship destination in Knightsbridge and airport locations, would remain operational.

“We recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems,” a Harrods statement confirmed. “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.” It said it would continue to provide updates “as necessary.”

Co-op call centres and back-office systems breached

Earlier this week, Co-op also reported a hack, which had seen some of its back-office systems and call centres compromised. in response, it had to close off some of its IT systems.

While Co-op stores, including its grocery and funeral homes, remained open, it urged its 70,000-strong workforce to remain vigilant. In a letter seen by ITV, it asked employees to keep cameras on and to verify all remote attendees when conducting online calls, as well as refraining from recording or transcribing digital meetings.

M&S’ ongoing disruption following Easter cyber attack

M&S is continuing to experience disruption to its operation after a cyber attack which first took hold over the Easter weekend, with the fallout from the cyber incident now entering Day 12.

The hack, which has been linked to cyber criminal group Scattered Spider, forced the retailer to suspend orders from M&S.com and its app – which account for an estimated £3.8million in sales every day.

The prolongued online shopping outage saw M&S shares fall by -7%, wiping off an estimated £650-£700million from the company’s value. It has also been battling delivery delays and product availability issues in some of its stores, as well as having to freeze online recruitment.