M&S encourages customers to visit stores amid cyberattack

M&S boss Stuart Machin has urged shoppers to visit its stores to shop in person over the bank holiday weekend.

In a post on the food and fashion retailer’s LinkedIn, the CEO explained that the business was “really sorry that we’ve not been able to offer you the service you expect from M&S over the last week”.

“We are working day and night to manage the current cyber incident and get things back to normal for you as quickly as possible,” he continued.

The retail exec noted that its teams were “doing the very best they can” and were “ready to welcome you into our stores – whether you are shopping for food or for fashion, home and beauty this bank holiday weekend.”

M&S saw contactless payments fail across stores over the bank holiday weekend last month, before reporting that it had been hit with a “cyber incident” later that week.

It has since been reported that the cyberattack was related to hacking group Scattered Spider, with the hackers having carried out a ransomware attack on M&S’ IT network, according to cybersecurity website Bleeping Computer.

Earlier this week, M&S paused recruitment as it grappled with the impacts of the ongoing attack, with the retailer removing all of its online job adverts, The Telegraph reported.

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