The Manchester-based conglomerate, which includes brands like Marks and Spencer and Harrods in its collective, joins a growing list of retailers that have been struck by significant IT system hacks recently.
In an email to customers on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq confessed that the enterprise is still battling with "experiencing significant disruption" as a result of the digital assault.
Khoury-Haq stated: "Actively managing the severity of the attack has meant shutting down some of our systems to protect the organisation."
Khoury-Haq also disclosed that the hackers had managed to access "As previously communicated, we have established that the cyber criminals were able to access a limited amount of member data." She expressed her distress over the breach, stating: "This is obviously extremely distressing for our colleagues and members, and I am very sorry this happened."
Khoury-Haq vowed that the team is "working tirelessly" to fortify the business against such threats, gauge the total damage inflicted by the hack, and liaise with relevant legal entities. This unsettling event has led to tangible problems for both staff and clientele, as evidenced by difficulties in processing card payments at select Co-op stores, resulting in barren shelves adding to consumers' woes.
On Tuesday, it surfaced that three Manchester-based stores displayed signs stating they had reverted to "cash only" due to non-functional card machines, throwing modern payment conveniences into disarray. It’s been reported that even the contactless payment options have fallen victim at a few venues, with teams currently striving to rectify the issue and resume standard services.
The greater portion of the retailer's 2,300 branches remains operative, accepting regular forms of payments in spite of the recent difficulties encountered.
Customers have stumbled upon barren shelves and advisories attributing the dwindling product availability to a recent cyber attack.
A representative from Co-op has issued an apology, saying: "This means that some of our stores might not have all of their usual products available and we would like to say sorry to our members and customers if this is the case in their local store. We are working around the clock to reduce disruption and resume deliveries.
"We would like to thank our colleagues, members, customers and suppliers for their understanding during this time."
Just last week, Co-op publicly apologized admitting that a cyber attack resulted in unauthorized access to members' sensitive information such as names and contact details.
In response to "sustained malicious attempts" targeted at its systems, the company took the drastic step of partially shutting down its IT network.
Concurrently, the well-known entity Marks and Spencer (MandS) finds itself navigating the repercussions of its own cyber adversity that began wreaking havoc on its operations a fortnight ago.
Reports suggest that Marks and Spencer (MandS) is experiencing challenges in providing their usual meal deal offerings due to sporadic product availability.
A spokesperson for MandS commented: "Customers can still buy meal deals in our rail station stores but there are pockets of availability for some items.
"We are working hard to continue getting our products into stores."
