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U.K. authorities confirmed on Thursday<\/a> they had arrested four individuals for allegedly carrying out a series of hacks earlier this year targeting the British retail sector, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods, and the Co-op.<\/p>\n The National Crime Agency said a woman aged 20, two men aged 19, and a youth aged 17, were arrested on Thursday at locations across the U.K. under suspicion of hacking, blackmail, money laundering, and participating in an organized crime group.<\/p>\n The suspects weren\u2019t named, but were taken into custody in relation to the hacks, the NCA said.<\/p>\n Starting in April, hackers started breaking in and stealing customer data from the Co-op<\/a>, and later Marks & Spencer<\/a>. Both intrusions were attributed to Scattered Spider, a collective of hackers and techniques<\/a> that use impersonation and deception tactics to trick call centers and company help desks into granting them access to their networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hackers allegedly used their access to allow a ransomware gang called DragonForce to deploy its file-encrypting malware<\/a> on Marks & Spencer\u2019s network. The Co-op reportedly avoided the ransomware<\/a> by pulling down its own network before the hackers could activate the malware. Harrods, too, said it rebuffed much of a cyberattack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n