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The boss of Co-op has said the company is “nearing recovery” following a major cyber attack earlier this year.
In a post on LinkedIn, CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq confirmed that the group’s systems were “now stable”, noting there was “still work to do to unwind the operational and technical impacts of the actions we had to take to block the criminals”.
She said: “We are all grateful to our members-owners, clients and customers, for their patience over what has been a really difficult time. We have had so many of you check in on our colleagues, and on me, throughout the last few weeks – and we have all felt very much supported and cared for throughout. I will be forever thankful to all of you.
“Teams across our Co-op have worked day and night to recover – and our technology and information security colleagues are true superheroes. What they have done for us, our partners, our peers, our members and our customers in the face of a sustained and highly sophisticated attack was nothing short of heroic.”
She also noted that Co-op food stores are restocked with “more of the products” customers want.
Last month, it was reported that the Co-op shut down parts of its IT systems in response to hackers attempting to gain access to them.
It later instructed staff to keep their cameras on during remote work meetings, as a way to verify all attendees following the cyber attack.
Following this, it warned of ongoing product shortages as it continued to battle the “sustained” cyber attack, particularly in fresh categories such as fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy.
The retailer confirmed on 2 May that the hackers had stolen the personal data of a number of customers.
At the time, Khoury-Haq stated in a letter to members that a “limited amount” of member data had been compromised, saying “this is obviously extremely distressing for our colleagues and members, and I am very sorry this happened”.
The retailer worked closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and National Crime Agency to investigate the breach.
The news comes as North Face and Cartier were named the latest retailers to fall victim to a cyber attack, alongside the M&S cyber attack in April.
