Four youths arrested for cyberattacks on British retailers

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested four suspects in connection with cyberattacks on well-known British retailers Marks & Spencer (M&S), Co-op and Harrods. The attacks took place in April of this year and caused significant financial disruption to the businesses. The four suspects remain in custody and are being questioned by the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, the NCA said in a press release.

The suspects are three men aged 17, 19 and 19, and a woman aged 20. They were arrested on Wednesday, July 10, in London and the West Midlands on suspicion of computer misuse, extortion, money laundering and involvement in organised crime. Electronic devices were seized during the searches for digital forensic examination. The police operation was supported by regional units from the West and East Midlands.

Impact of cyberattacks on businesses

Paul Foster, deputy director and head of the NCA’s cybercrime unit, highlighted the impact of cyberattacks on businesses. “They can cause serious disruption to businesses.”

British department store chain Marks & Spencer lost over 1.2 billion pounds in market value. It also faced a multi-million pound lawsuit following a cyberattack. The complaint specifically relates to Scottish customers whose personal data was stolen during the incident.

The estimated financial impact of the cyberattack on M&S is approximately 300 million pounds in reduced operating profit in the 2025/26 financial year, the retailer said in response to the cyberattacks.

Supermarket chain Co-op reported that the attackers had stolen customers' personal data, disrupted payments and made it impossible to replenish shelves.

According to several sources, London department store Harrods had to restrict access to its online services in May because it could not process orders.

Foster added: “We are grateful to M&S, Co-op and Harrods for their cooperation with this investigation. Their engagement highlights how important it is for victims to come forward and seek help from the authorities.”

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com