Intentar ORO - Gratis
The Boardroom Sensemaker M&S cyber hack shows it pays to prep
The Observer
|May 24, 2026
M&S has revealed a pre-tax profit of £671m for 2025, down roughly a quarter from a year earlier, after a cyber-attack last spring cost the supermarket £131m.
-
The M&S hack hit the news in 2023
So what?
This is not just M&S. Cybersecurity is at the top of boardroom agendas after a string of hacks last year knocked an estimated 0.5% off UK GDP. The release of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos AI tool, which identifies cyber vulnerabilities, has also prompted regulators and businesses to begin discussing the threat should it fall into the wrong hands.
Batten down the hatches
“It’s what people are calling ‘the AI bug blizzard’? explains Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). “All these vulnerabilities keep getting found [by AI]. Microsoft just had a record quarter for issuing patches, Even if you have a team that is really good, doing the industry standard of getting all their patches done in 20 days, they're... just not going to be able to do it.”
Esta historia es de la edición May 24, 2026 de The Observer.
Suscríbete a Magzter GOLD para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9000 revistas y periódicos.
¿Ya eres suscriptor? Iniciar sesión
MÁS HISTORIAS DE The Observer
The Observer
Clacton seat could be up for grabs after investigation into Farage’s £5m ‘unconditional gift’
The next British parliamentary byelection is, quite possibly, going to be in Clacton.
4 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Fayed abuse survivors accuse Met police of ignoring trafficking claims
Women now identified as victims of modern slavery have complained about how the force handled cases against the former Harrods boss and his network
4 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Meeting Greenspan was like an audience with the Wizard of Oz
For a young economics journalist, an interview with Alan Greenspan (officially, he never gave interviews) was like having an audience with God, or perhaps the Wizard of Oz.
1 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Vagrancy Act of 1824 is finally repealed
Homelessness charities have hailed the repeal of the Vagrancy Act after 202 years as a “watershed”, “land-mark” and “defining” moment.
1 min
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Volkswagen workers fear bite of ‘Wolf of Wolfsburg’
If Volkswagen proceeds with its plan to shed as many as 100,000 jobs, it will not only underline how dire the outlook is for Germany’s car industry in the face of fierce Chinese competition but may also sound the death knell for the vaunted postwar German model of stakeholder capitalism.
1 min
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Myanmar demanded data from a Norwegian telecoms firm. Months later, an activist was dead
Telenor's sharing of private data with the military led to the arrest and deaths of pro-democracy resistance members, alleges a class-action lawsuit filed in Norway
11 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
'It'll get more intense and more frequent'
Last week’s weather will not be a one-off. Experts say it’s time to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change.
1 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
The Thames Water test will flush out Burnham’s approach to the economy
A tourist gets lost in the Irish countryside and asks a passing farmer for directions. “Well, if I was you,” the man responds, “I wouldn’t start from here.” So goes the old joke.
4 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
EasyJet adds to UK equities flight fears
The budget airline could soon become the latest British company to fly off the FTSE as foreign investors rush to snap up a bargain, reports Barney Macintyre
2 mins
June 28, 2026
The Observer
Lammy: ‘I’ve been loyal to every Labour PM. I’ll be loyal to the next’
When Keir Starmer made his tearful resignation speech outside No 10 last week, David Lammy was one of only a handful of cabinet ministers standing beside him. “Loyalty and trust and conviction are underrated values, but important values in politics,” he says.
3 mins
June 28, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size