M&S struggling to recover from cyberattack, online shopping still offline, potential lasting damage

From Yahoo Finance: 2025-05-19 06:41:00

Marks & Spencer has yet to restore online shopping a month after a cyberattack, costing over $80 million in lost profit and wiping $1 billion from its market value. Other retailers worldwide are boosting defenses after similar attacks on the Co-op and Harrods in Britain.

Customers are still shopping in-store instead of online at M&S, but patience may run out. Systems are being brought back online daily, prioritizing safety over speed. M&S has not disclosed when online clothing ordering will resume after the cyber incident disclosed on April 22.

A hacking collective known as Scattered Spider is blamed for the attack on M&S. TCS employees’ logins were used in the breach, but TCS declined to comment. Retail executives are urgently reviewing security systems to prevent future attacks.

Customer frustration grows as M&S struggles to recover. Financial impact remains unknown, but online sales usually contribute one-third of clothing and home sales. The longer the crisis drags on, the more M&S’ problems will mount, with estimated profit hits of about £15 million per week. Other UK retailers fear they could be next.

Read more: M&S’ slow recovery from cyberattack puts it at risk of lasting damage