Some M&S stores left with empty shelves after cyber attack

Some Marks & Spencer (M&S) shops have been left with empty meals cabinets because the retailer continues to wrestle with a cyber assault affecting its operations.

On-line orders have been paused on the corporate’s web site and app since Friday, following issues with contactless pay and Click on & accumulate over the Easter weekend.

The BBC understands meals availability ought to be again to regular by the tip of the week.

In the meantime, safety consultants say a cyber crime group calling itself DragonForce is behind the mayhem.

The comparatively new group is predicted to be asking the grocery store for a multi-million pound ransom to deliver the cyber assault to an finish.

The BBC has requested M&S for remark.

“Based mostly on monitoring of community exercise and ransomware teams, M&S are coping with a ransomware gang who’re making an attempt to extort them,” stated safety researcher Kevin Beaumont.

Like all ransomware gangs, DragonForce makes use of malicious software program to scramble the info on as lots of their victims computer systems as doable. Additionally they normally steal as a lot confidential info as they’ll to make use of it as a bargaining chip.

DragonForce began attacking victims worldwide round August 2023.

It really works on what is named a “ransomware as a service” mannequin, which means that any cyber prison can lease the malicious software program to contaminate victims’ methods so long as they provide DragonForce a reduce.

It is not recognized who the person hackers accountable for the M&S hack are however some consultants are pointing in the direction of a loosely run group known as Scattered Spider.

It isn’t clear how widespread the empty cabinets are however the retailer confirmed “pockets of restricted availability in some shops”.

The disruption in provide has come about as a result of the agency has needed to take a few of its food-related methods offline. It’s utilizing totally different processes to enhance availability, so it may function as usually as quickly as doable.

In M&S’s Marble Arch retailer in central London, indicators on among the meals cabinets that had been lacking gadgets stated: “Please bear with us whereas we repair some technical points affecting product availability.”

Dot, 52, who outlets at M&S repeatedly, stated among the cabinets had been fairly empty.

“I used to be in search of my favorite biscuits and could not discover them,” she stated.

Ken, 76, additionally stated the restricted inventory was “undoubtedly noticeable”, though the employees had been “completely charming” contemplating the cyber assault.

The agency can also be managing disruption to a small proportion of merchandise that it provides to Ocado, which delivers M&S on-line orders and which is part-owned by M&S.

Though points with contactless pay, Click on & Acquire and reward playing cards have since been resolved, prospects can nonetheless not place on-line orders.

A couple of third of M&S’s clothes and family items gross sales within the UK are by its on-line platforms and had been price some £1.2bn, in line with its newest monetary outcomes.

Though its share worth was up barely on Tuesday morning, it has fallen 4.6% over the past 5 days – with a notable dip on Friday when the agency introduced it was stopping online orders.

The issues come throughout a busy retailing interval, as prospects put together for the nice climate and buy outside backyard gear, barbecue gadgets and celebration meals.

The aftershocks of the cyber assault will dent its income, analysts have told the BBC, as many purchasers go elsewhere to buy as an alternative.

Stopping on-line orders was “nearly like chopping off considered one of your limbs”, stated Nayna McIntosh, former government committee member of M&S and the founding father of Hope Style.

“It’s going to have been a really troublesome choice to have made on Friday and because it enters into its second week for them nonetheless to be there might be extremely painful,” she instructed the BBC.

However she added that M&S was a well-liked model so prospects had been possible to provide it some leeway so long as they’ve transparency.

M&S has not disclosed the character of the cyber assault.

“As a part of our proactive administration of the incident, we took a call to take a few of our methods quickly offline,” a spokesperson stated.

“Consequently, we at the moment have pockets of restricted availability in some shops. We’re working exhausting to get availability again to regular throughout the property.”

M&S isn’t the one agency to endure disruption to its on-line methods in current instances. Grocery store Morrisons faced problems with its Christmas order in 2024, whereas banks Barclays and Lloyds had been hit by outages earlier in 2025.

Extra reporting by Shakira Abdi