UK retailer The Works suffers ransomware attack leading to store closures
An employee falling victim to a malicious phishing email facilitated the attack but customer payment data has not been compromised
UK high street retail store The Works has confirmed a cyber attack on its systems, forcing some stores to close, with sources close to the matter saying systems are hit with ransomware.
The ransomware attack was facilitated by an employee falling victim to a phishing email, according to sources familiar with the situation. The company is working to fully understand the extent of the attack but can confirm that no customer payment data has been compromised.
The Works has called in unnamed outside cyber security experts to conduct digital forensics on the incident and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been informed in case other data belonging to customers has been stolen.
The specific ransomware group behind the attack, the ransomware used, or the exact ransom demand, has not yet been confirmed but sources said The Works is not going to currently speculate about the potential for paying the ransom.
The retailer said customers are still safe to shop in-store and online since its credit and debit payments are processed by an outside third party - “there is no risk that this payment data has been accessed improperly,” it said.
RELATED RESOURCE
Ransomware and Microsoft 365 for business
What you need to know about reducing ransomware risk
The Works has disabled all internal and external access to its systems and staff emails until the investigation into the situation is complete.
It also said “to protect customers and the business, the company has made some immediate protective changes to further strengthen its security position” but did not elaborate on what these changes entail.
“There has been some limited disruption to trading and business operations, including the closure of some stores due to till issues,” it said. Replenishment deliveries to the Group's stores were suspended temporarily and the normal delivery window for the fulfilment of online orders was extended, but store deliveries are expected to resume imminently and the normal online service levels are progressively being reintroduced.
“The Company does not currently anticipate that this incident will have a material adverse impact on its forecasts or financial position.”
The Works currently operates more than 520 stores nationwide and is a popular store for gifts, crafts, toys, books, and stationary.
-
Companies are still paying ransoms to cyber criminals despite official adviceNews A Proofpoint survey found evolving ransomware techniques and the use of AI is exacerbating the situation for victims
-
This one cyber crime group accounted for nearly a fifth of all ransomware attacks in JuneNews The Gentlemen, a ransomware a service operator, now accounts for 17% of published attacks
-
Working with the enemy: Ransomware negotiator-turned cyber criminal jailed after working with hackers to extort clientsNews Angelo Martino was supposed to be negotiating on behalf of victims, but was secretly working for ransomware operators
-
Hackers are posing as Interpol to target small businesses – here's what you need to knowNews Small businesses are warned to think twice before clicking on links
-
‘Every hour ransomware goes undetected drastically increases its potential blast radius’: Hackers are breaching networks and laying low for longer – and nearly half of firms don’t realize until data is stolenNews An ExtraHop survey found more intrusions are going undetected, leading to longer dwell times
-
Ransomware cartels are fragmenting into volatile splinter groups, warns Met Police cyber chiefNews Commoditized "cyber crime bazaars" and AI data mining are forcing law enforcement to rewrite its playbook
-
New ransomware threat group, The Gentlemen, has become one of the most active ransomware operators, accounting for 10% of all attacksNews NTT researchers warn that the RaaS group is leveraging SystemBC malware to establish covert tunnelling, evade detection, and support rapid lateral movement across enterprise environments
-
Instructure chose to a pay ransom following the Canvas cyber attack – research shows more than half of security leaders would follow suitAnalysis Opting to pay ransoms creates huge risks for enterprises – you’re relying on the word of criminals
