The Co-op has stopped taking card payments in some of its shops as it battles the fallout from a devastating cyber attack.
The retailer confirmed on Tuesday that some parts of its business have been limited to accepting cash only in response to the breach, which has wreaked havoc across the Co-op’s systems and left it facing empty shelves.
Pictures of stores displaying handmade signs warning that customers will not be able to use their payment cards have already emerged on social media, although the retailer said it is hoping to restore digital payments later this morning.
It is understood that the majority of shops are still accepting card payments.
It comes after the Co-op admitted on Friday that the hack was much more serious than first expected, confessing that millions of customers’ data had been stolen by a gang of cyber criminals.
A group known as DragonForce claimed responsibility for the attack, telling the BBC they had details of around 20m Co-op customers.
That was in stark contrast to the Co-op’s initial claims that the attack only affected “back office and call centre services”.
DragonForce also claimed responsibility for similar breaches at both Marks & Spencer and Harrods, and threatened further attacks by claiming UK retailers were on its “blacklist”.
The card issue emerged after the attack already made it difficult for the Co-op to secure some food and drink items, leading to empty shelves across its stores.
The retailer said that “sustained malicious attempts by hackers to access our systems” meant some stores would not have their regular selection available.
The cyber attack has left Co-op shoppers facing empty shelves
Dalton Philips, the boss of Greencore, a major supplier of sandwiches to the retailer, said over the weekend it was having to resort to “pen and paper” methods to keep Co-op stocked up.
He told the BBC: “In the absence of having all the systems speaking to each other, you revert to how it was 25 years ago.”
The DragonForce group is known for using ransomware to encrypt companies’ systems before demanding a payment in order to unlock them.
The attacks have also been linked to a gang known as Scattered Spider, a group said to be made up of British and American teenagers.
Stephen Bonner, deputy commissioner of the Information Commissioner’s Office, told the Today Programme on Tuesday that the chaos was “a wake-up call to every organisation”.
Co-op staff have been instructed to keep their cameras on during all virtual meetings amid fears of hackers gaining access to internal communications.
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