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An Indian IT company is conducting an internal investigation to determine whether it was the gateway for the cyber-attack on Marks & Spencer, BBC News understands.<\/p>\n
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has provided services to M&S for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, M&S said the hackers who had brought huge disruption to the retailer had managed to gain access to their systems via a “third party” – a company working alongside it – rather than accessing those systems directly.<\/p>\n
M&S and TCS have both declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The FT, which first reported the story<\/a>, cited people close to the investigation who said it was hoped the inquiry would be concluded by the end of the month.<\/p>\n It is not clear when TCS launched its investigation.<\/p>\n Customers have not been able to buy items on the M&S website since the end of April.<\/p>\n It said earlier this week that online services should see a gradual return to normal over the coming weeks, but some level of disruption would continue until July.<\/p>\n M&S estimates that the cyber-attack will hit this year’s profits by around \u00a3300m.<\/p>\n Police are focusing on a notorious group of English-speaking hackers, known as Scattered Spider, the BBC has learned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The same group is believed to have been behind attacks on the Co-op and Harrods, but it was M&S that suffered the biggest impact.<\/p>\n TCS says it has over 607,000 employees across the world and is the lead sponsor of three prestigious marathons – New York, London and Sydney.<\/p>\n On its website, TCS said it worked with M&S on Sparks, its customer reward scheme. <\/p>\n In 2023, TCS and M&S won the Retail Partnership of the Year award<\/a> at the Retail Systems Awards.<\/p>\n TCS has a portfolio of well-known clients<\/a> including the Co-op, according to its website.<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n There is no indication if the internal probe is also looking at the hack on the Co-Op.<\/p>\n TCS also counts easyjet, Nationwide and Jaguar Land Rover among its many clients.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Over the last few weeks, we have been managing a highly sophisticated and targeted cyber-attack, which has led to a limited period of disruption.”<\/p>\n In a media call on Wednesday, he did not respond to a question about whether the company had paid a ransom as part of the process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n