M&S woes continue as hack attack enters second week

Marks & Spencer has been forced to block hundreds of staff who work from home from its network – as well as resort to pen and paper for some transactions – as the ongoing cyber attack enters its second week.

According to reports, some programs that remote employees use in the internal system have been shut down to help prevent more damage being caused. It is understood employees can still work from home, but certain systems are not accessible.

M&S has already stopped taking online orders from both its website and app, while outstanding orders have been cancelled.

One Decision Marketing reader said she received a message on Friday that her online order, which was placed on Wednesday, was suddenly out of stock. She explained: “They accepted my order, and my money, and there was no problem. Then by Friday everything was gone. They should just be honest rather than try to kid people.”

Meanwhile, the company is still not accepting gift cards instore and has also ordered around 200 agency workers at its main distribution centre in Castle Donington, East Midlands, to stay at home due to the incident’s impact on orders.

Hargreaves Lansdown head of money and markets Susannah Streeter said the pause on online orders will be “hugely damaging for sales”.

She added: “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.

“While other retailers have not been immune to IT breaches, the depth of M&S’ problems in resolving the issue are worrying, and it may take some time to win back some more warier shoppers.”

M&S has seen more than £700m wiped off its stock market valuation since the cyber breach began.