Harrods Of London Comes Under Attack

Uploaded on 2025-05-02 in TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW

Over the last few days some of Britain's leading hight street retailers have been struggling to reassure their customers after M&S and the Co-op multipe store businesses have been hot by debilitating cyber attacks.

These are just the latest victims of amongst a range of UK companies, public bodies and institutions have been hit by a wave of cyber attacks, costing hundreds of £millions and months of disruption.

Now, Harrods, London's famous luxury department store, has become the third major retailer to be targeted by cyber criminals in the last few days and the store confirmed that it has restricted Internet access at their web sites after an attempt to gain access to its systems.

Unlike M&S, which appears to be the hardest hit of all three of the retailers, Harrods is still taking online orders and has encouraged customers to not do anything differently at this point. While is has been forced to shut down some systems, its website and all its stores, including the Knightsbridge flagship, H Beauty and airport outlets, are continuing to operate.

Harrods said in a statement: “We recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems. Our seasoned IT security team immediately took proactive steps to keep systems safe and as a result we have restricted internet access at our sites today.” It is understood the retailer first realised it was being targeted in late April. They are not asking customers to take any action,suggesting ting that it does not suspect data had been accessed.

It’s not known if the three incidents are coincidence, or a coordinated attack. The original attack on M&S, meanwhile, has been attributed to a known prolific ransomware known as Scattered Spider, while the source of disruption at the Co-op and Harrods is at present uncertain.

According to experts at the ethical - hacker collective, HackerOne, attacks on the retail sector have grown more organised and opportunistic. They report that the group linked to the M&S breach, Scattered Spider, is known for using advanced social engineering tactics to infiltrate networks from the inside, adding a new layer of complexity for defenders.

For retailers like M&S and the Co-op, it’s no longer just about building higher walls, but about anticipating how and where adversaries might slip through the cracks.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is working with Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, while the Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit and the National Crime Agency is investigating the attack om Harrods.

Image: @Harrods

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