Marks & Spencer confirms customer data breach in cyber attack
Marks & Spencer has disclosed that a recent cyber attack resulted in the theft of some personal customer data.
The compromised information may include contact details, dates of birth, and online order histories, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
The High Street giant said the personal information taken could also include online order histories, but added the data theft did not include useable payment or card details, or any account passwords.
M&S was hit by the cyber attack three weeks ago and is struggling to get services back to normal, with online orders still suspended.
The retailer said customers would be prompted to reset passwords for accounts "for extra peace of mind".
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said the company was writing to customers to inform them that "unfortunately, some personal customer information has been taken".
"Importantly, there is no evidence that the information has been shared," he added.
M&S confirmed the contact information stolen could include:
- name
- date of birth
- telephone number
- home address
- household information
- email address
- online order history
The retailer added any card information taken would not be useable as it does not hold full card payment details on its systems.
M&S operations director Jayne Wall told customers in an email: "You do not need to take any action, but you might receive emails, calls or texts claiming to be from M&S when they are not, so do be cautious.
"Remember that we will never contact you and ask you to provide us with personal account information, like usernames, and we will never ask you to give us your password."
Mr Machin said M&S was "working around the clock to get things back to normal" as quickly as possible.
Problems at M&S began over the Easter weekend when customers reported problems with Click & Collect and contactless payments in stores.
The company confirmed it was dealing with a "cyber incident" and while in-store services have resumed, its online orders on its website and app have been suspended since 25 April.
There is still no word on when online orders will resume.
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