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The chief executive of U.K. retail conglomerate the Co-op on Wednesday said that hackers had stolen the personal data of all of the company\u2019s customers during an April cyberattack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq told BBC News<\/a> that the hackers copied the company\u2019s member list of 6.5 million members, but that the Co-op shut down its network before the hackers could lock up its systems with ransomware.<\/p>\n The members\u2019 data includes names, addresses, and contact information.<\/p>\n The retailer\u2019s network shutdown subsequently resulted in widespread internal disruption across its U.K. back offices and grocery stores.<\/p>\n The breach at the Co-op<\/a> in April was part of a broader hacking campaign targeting the U.K. retail sector, which also saw the theft of an unspecified amount of customer data<\/a> from Marks & Spencer and an attempted cyberattack on Harrods. The cyberattacks were attributed to Scattered Spider, a collective of mostly young hackers<\/a> that use deception tactics to trick companies\u2019 IT helpdesks into granting them access to their network.<\/p>\n Earlier in July, U.K. authorities arrested four people for allegedly<\/a> having links to the retail cyberattacks, including a 20-year-old woman, two men aged 19, and a youth aged 17. The four are accused of hacking, blackmail, and participating as a member of an organized crime group.<\/p>\n Since the cyberattacks, the hackers reportedly moved on to target the airline and transportation industry<\/a>, as well as insurance companies<\/a> \u2014 sectors that store vast amounts of consumers\u2019 data.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not known how much the breach at the Co-op will cost it. According to one retail industry news outlet<\/a>, the Co-op did not have cybersecurity insurance at the time of the hack, which could result in the company incurring heavy financial costs.<\/p>\n