M&S to take weeks to recover fully from devastating cyber attack

Marks & Spencer is expected to fully resume online shopping within four weeks as it continues to recover from the massive cyber attack.  

Half of the systems including Click and Collect are still down despite online orders being restarted in June, the retailer’s boss said.

Stuart Machin told the retailer’s annual general meeting that after the brand goes ‘fully on’ the focus will then be on getting its Castle Donington distribution centre in the East Midlands ‘back and running’. 

He said that ‘we will have the vast majority of this behind us’ by August.  

Hackers disrupted contactless payments and Click and Collect during the cyber attack in April.

The retailer then confirmed that customer data had been stolen, although it said no passwords or card details were accessed. 

The attack will wipe around £300 million from this year’s profits, the chain has estimated, with the losses only being partly covered by insurance. 

Online orders have resumed in England, Scotland and Wales, but customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are still waiting for the service. 

Mr Machin said: ‘Currently, half of online is open but not areas like Click and Collect. Within the next four weeks we are hoping for the whole of online to be fully on. 

‘Then our focus will be getting the Donington site back and running.’ 

The high street giant has previously said that the disruption to services will continue into June and July.

Last week, it sent out e-gift cards to customers who had online orders cancelled or had click and collect orders delayed. 

A message on the M&S website today reads: ‘We will resume Click & Collect, Next Day Delivery and UK Nominated Day Delivery for fashion and international ordering in the coming weeks.’ 

The retailer is just one of many household names that have been hacked recently including Co-op, Harrods and Dior. 

In April,  Co-op had to shut down its IT systems to stop hackers from snatching personal and financial information like shopper passwords or bank details. 

As with the  M&S cyber attack, Co-op shoppers were left contending with empty shelves and deliveries being paused. 

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