UK retail giant Co-op confirms hackers stole all 6.5 million customer records

The chief govt of U.Ok. retail conglomerate the Co-op on Wednesday mentioned that hackers had stolen the non-public information of the entire firm’s clients throughout an April cyberattack. 

Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq instructed BBC News that the hackers copied the corporate’s member checklist of 6.5 million members, however that the Co-op shut down its community earlier than the hackers might lock up its programs with ransomware.

The members’ information consists of names, addresses, and phone info.

The retailer’s community shutdown subsequently resulted in widespread inner disruption throughout its U.Ok. again places of work and grocery shops.

The breach at the Co-op in April was a part of a broader hacking marketing campaign focusing on the U.Ok. retail sector, which additionally noticed the theft of an unspecified amount of customer data from Marks & Spencer and an tried cyberattack on Harrods. The cyberattacks have been attributed to Scattered Spider, a collective of mostly young hackers that use deception ways to trick corporations’ IT helpdesks into granting them entry to their community.

Earlier in July, U.Ok. authorities arrested four people for allegedly having hyperlinks to the retail cyberattacks, together with a 20-year-old girl, two males aged 19, and a youth aged 17. The 4 are accused of hacking, blackmail, and taking part as a member of an organized crime group.

For the reason that cyberattacks, the hackers reportedly moved on to target the airline and transportation industry, in addition to insurance companies — sectors that retailer huge quantities of customers’ information.

It’s not identified how a lot the breach on the Co-op will value it. In response to one retail industry news outlet, the Co-op didn’t have cybersecurity insurance coverage on the time of the hack, which might outcome within the firm incurring heavy monetary prices.