High St on hack alert

Major cyber attacks are very serious warning to businesses, say experts

- BY SASKIA ROWLANDS

FIRMS were last night warned to take the threat of cyber attacks seriously - after the targeting of M&S, Co-op and Harrods.

Criminals have boasted of snatching 20 million Co-op customers’ personal data, there is an ongoing attack at Marks & Spencer, and hackers have tried to tap into Harrods’ system.

Cyber security firm Darktrace's Toby Lewis said: "Ransomware attacks are inherently opportunistic, with many groups operating a sort of spray-and-pray approach, either directly or through the larger criminal ecosystem."