Around 330 SPAR stores in the north of England have been hit by a cyberattack over the weekend. The attack resulted in the closure of many SPAR stores, while others remained open and some were payments only accepting cash SPAR is an international supermarket franchise with 13,320 stores in 48 countries, but the recent cyberattack only affected stores in the north of England.
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According to Lawrence Hunt & Co Ltd., which operates 25 branches in Lancashire, UK, the IT outage affected cash registers, credit card payment processing systems and email access.
James Hall and Co, a Preston-based food distributor that works with several SPAR stores in Lancashire, is also affected by the attack and told local media:
“We are currently aware of a cyber attack on our IT systems. This has affected approximately 330 SPAR stores across the North of England in the last 24 hours and we are working to resolve this situation as soon as possible“.
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As we said above, the cyberattack affected the stores' ability to process card payments, meaning some SPAR stores were closed, while others only accept cash.
Supermarket chain SPAR said yesterday: "We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers and are working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation."
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The security incident closely resembles a ransomware attack that has locked down critical IT systems. However, the nature of the cyberattack has not yet been officially revealed.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) also issued a statement to inform consumers that the agency is aware of the situation and is working to assess the incident.
Source: Bleeping Computer
