{"id":93492,"date":"2025-04-30T14:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ms-cyberattack-by-scattered-spider-halts-online-orders-disrupts-operations-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T14:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:55:13","slug":"ms-cyberattack-by-scattered-spider-halts-online-orders-disrupts-operations-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ms-cyberattack-by-scattered-spider-halts-online-orders-disrupts-operations-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"M&#038;S cyberattack by Scattered Spider halts online orders, disrupts operations | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<figure class=\"flex items-center text-center\"><figcaption class=\"text-3 font-sans uppercase mr-3 whitespace-no-wrap\"><span class=\"ls-art\">Listen\u00a0to\u00a0article<\/span><\/figcaption><audio class=\"h-5 w-60 sm:w-80 rounded-none\" preload=\"metadata\" controlslist=\"noplaybackrate nodownload\" id=\"tts\" controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/attachments\/speech_20250430094545083-neAcX.mp3\"\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Marks &amp; Spencer (M&amp;S), the UK retail giant, has suffered a major cybersecurity breach attributed to the notorious \u201cScattered Spider\u201d ransomware group, leading to widespread operational disruptions.<\/p>\n<p>The cyberattack, confirmed last week, has forced M&amp;S to suspend all online orders across its UK, Ireland, and some international platforms.<\/p>\n<p>The breach has also disrupted contactless payments, gift card transactions, and click &amp; collect services.<\/p>\n<p>According to sources, the attack began in February when hackers stole sensitive credentials by extracting the NTDS.dit file, the core of Microsoft Active Directory.<\/p>\n<p>This allowed lateral movement across the network.<\/p>\n<p>On April 24, the attackers deployed the DragonForce ransomware, targeting M&amp;S\u2019s VMware ESXi infrastructure, effectively crippling virtual machines and backend systems.<\/p>\n<p>M&amp;S has enlisted the help of cybersecurity firms including CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Fenix24 to manage the breach and recover operations.<\/p>\n<p>Though the company has remained tight-lipped on technical details, industry experts identify Scattered Spider\u2014also known as Octo Tempest and UNC3944\u2014as the likely perpetrators.<\/p>\n<p>The group is known for sophisticated social engineering, phishing, MFA bombing, and SIM swapping techniques.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts warn that M&amp;S\u2019s brand reputation has taken a hit.<\/p>\n<p>With roughly one-third of its UK clothing and home goods sales occurring online, the timing\u2014coinciding with seasonal shopping surges\u2014could translate into lost market share.<\/p>\n<p>While contactless payments have resumed and some click &amp; collect services are functional, many customers remain frustrated by ongoing issues and lack of clear updates.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the setback, retail experts believe M&amp;S\u2019s quick acknowledgment and active response may limit long-term damage.<\/p>\n<p>However, cybersecurity professionals caution that the evolving tactics of ransomware groups like Scattered Spider underscore the urgent need for stronger digital defenses across all sectors.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen\u00a0to\u00a0article Marks &amp; Spencer (M&amp;S), the UK retail giant, has suffered a major cybersecurity breach attributed to the notorious \u201cScattered Spider\u201d ransomware group, leading to widespread operational disruptions. The cyberattack, confirmed last week, has forced M&amp;S to suspend all online orders across its UK, Ireland, and some international platforms. The breach has also disrupted contactless [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/hiba-640x480-41746006459-0\/hiba-640x480-41746006459-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}