CRIPPLING OUTAGE
M&S blocks hundreds of staff from system & resorts to pen and paper as cyber attack chaos stretches into second week
There are reports the company is being 'held to ransom by a criminal gang'
MARKS and Spencer have blocked hundreds of staff from their system amid an ongoing cyber attack.
The retailer has resorted back to pen and paper and locked down work from home operations as tech chaos continues into the second week.
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As reported by , some programmes that remote employees use to log into internal systems have been shut down.
It is understood the measures were implemented to help prevent more damage being caused by a cybersecurity attack.
According to company insiders, staff cans still work from home but won't be able to access certain systems.
Industry experts said the aim could be to cut off its virtual private network (VPN).
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M&S has not yet confirmed the nature of this cyber breach.
But has reported the attack was due to the company being “held to ransom by a criminal gang”.
Shares in the company dipped further on Monday morning amid the continued fallout.
The firm has seen more than £700 million wiped off its stock market valuation since the cyber breach began.
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M&S apologised to customers last week after orders and payments were impacted.
Shoppers were unable to collect their orders in store, tills were shut down and refunds were unavailable.
The company confirmed on Monday that the retailer has stopped taking orders from its website and app for a fourth day as a result.
On Monday, M&S also ordered around 200 agency workers at its main distribution centre to stay at home due to the incident's impact on orders.
It confirmed that agency staff at its Castle Donington clothing and homewares logistics centre in the East Midlands were told not to come in.
Contactless payments are now back online in stores after these were originally impacted by the cyber issue.
The company reported the incident to data protection supervisory authorities and the National Cyber Security Centre.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the pause on online orders will be "hugely damaging for sales".
"Fashion sales are likely to take a big hit particularly as the attack has come during the spell of warm weather when summer ranges would ordinarily be piling up in virtual baskets," she added.
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"While other retailers have not been immune to IT breaches, the depth of Marks and Spencer's problems in resolving the issue are worrying, and it may take some time to win back some more warier shoppers."
Shares were 2.2% lower at 377.3p on Monday morning.
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