London landmark makes it a third UK retailer to report issues in a month.
Harrods has announced that it has experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems.
In a statement sent to Sky News, the Knightsbridge store said its “seasoned IT security team immediately took proactive steps to keep systems safe, and as a result, we have restricted internet access at our sites today.”
It confirmed that all stores remain open, its website is functional and it is not asking customers “to do anything differently at this point, and we will continue to provide updates as necessary."
Expert Advice
Following the reported incidents at M&S and the Co-op over the past weeks, the NCSC CEO, Dr Richard Horne, said: “The disruption caused by the recent incidents impacting the retail sector are naturally a cause for concern to those businesses affected, their customers and the public.
“The NCSC continues to work closely with organisations that have reported incidents to us to fully understand the nature of these attacks and to provide expert advice to the wider sector based on the threat picture.
“These incidents should act as a wake-up call to all organisations. I urge leaders to follow the advice on the NCSC website to ensure they have appropriate measures in place to help prevent attacks and respond and recover effectively.”
Commenting, Cody Barrow, CEO of EclecticIQ, said this attack on Harrods is the latest in a growing wave of incidents exposing the retail sector's mounting vulnerability to cyber threats, and highlights an alarming trend: attackers are becoming increasingly opportunistic, exploiting weaknesses across complex, highly interconnected supply chains.
"These attacks don't just disrupt IT systems, they paralyse point-of-sale operations, cripple logistics, stall online platforms, and damage customer trust. The consequences are immediate: revenue losses, operational chaos, and lasting reputational damage.”
Barrow said it is time for other retailers to assume they are targets. "Retail remains a prime target due to the volume of customer data and the high cost of operational downtime,” he said. “The attacks on Harrods, Co-op, and M&S should serve as a wake-up call: in today's threat landscape, cyber resilience isn't just a technical concern, it's a business survival imperative."
Deliberate Strategy
Shobhit Gautam, staff solutions architect, EMEA at HackerOne, said that the timing of these attacks is no coincidence, and suspected threat actors are exploiting the Bank Holiday weekend to strike when staffing levels are lower and online sales traffic is peaking. “It’s a deliberate strategy designed to maximise disruption and financial impact while defences are thinly stretched.”
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
