Latest news with #humanerror
RNZ News
21 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
'Human error' behind massive internet outage across lower North Island
Human error during planned works resulted in internet outages. Photo: 123RF Ultrafast broadband provider Chorus says Friday morning's massive internet outage across the lower North Island was caused by human error. Connections went down before 11am, affecting connections from Wellington, Kapiti, Hutt Valley, Palmerston North and through to Napier. One internet service provider estimated 90 percent of customers in the regions were affected. The outage lasted more than an hour, and was fixed by about 12.30pm. Chorus on Friday afternoon said it was "the result of human error during planned works, which resulted in one of our core ethernet routers for the Wellington region being isolated from our network". "The error was identified and corrected, and all services restored within a 1.5-hour period," the infrastructure provider said. "At its peak, approximately 118,000 services were affected by the outage." Chorus said a "full investigation" had been launched, "which will include a review of our planned works processes, and any changes needed to prevent a similar situation in future". "Chorus sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused and thanks those impacted for their patience and understanding." Gorilla Technology chief executive Paul Spain told RNZ that he understood the equipment that failed was based in a Chorus site on Wellington's Courtenay Place. Spain said it appeared to have had some sort of technical fault. "We usually don't have these things having such a widespread impact because there tends to be redundancy built into the system, because if one component fails another part of the network takes up the slack and keeps operating." He said it was likely Chorus would provide more details in due course. "We usually see the Chorus network being really resilient and serving New Zealand well, so you know this is a reasonably uncommon occurrence." Spain told RNZ these types of issues could have a widespread impact. "I think Chorus will be working hard after this to understand what happened [and] how do they make sure it never happens again." Earlier, Voyager said it had identified an issue affecting "Chorus Wellington UFB (ultrafast broadband) handover". "This handover services Wellington, Kapiti, Hutt Valley, Palmerston North and through to Napier." Just after 12.30pm, Voyager said connections were starting to come back online, but users might need to restart their routers. "My office is being kept updated on the situation," Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said earlier, when connections were still offline. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Marks & Spencer blames ‘human error' as cyber attack set to cost £300m
Marks & Spencer has said a damaging cyber attack caused by 'human error' will cost the company around £300 million. The high street retail giant said disruption to online shopping could continue into July but it hopes to have this partly restored 'within weeks'. M&S halted orders on its website and saw empty shelves after being targeted by hackers around the Easter weekend. Customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was also taken by hackers in the attack. Chief executive Stuart Machin told reporters that hackers gained access to the company's IT systems through a third party after 'human error'. The boss said he has been in touch with other industry bosses to discuss hacks, with rivals the Co-op and Harrods also targeted with cyber attacks in recent weeks. He added: 'We didn't leave the door open, this wasn't anything to do with under-investment. 'Everyone is vulnerable. For us, we were unlucky on this particular day through some human error.' The retailer revealed on Wednesday morning that online sales and profits in its fashion, home and beauty business have been 'heavily impacted'. Disruption to online operations is set 'to continue throughout June and into July as we restart, then ramp up operations', it said. However, it indicated that shoppers will see improvements over the coming weeks. Mr Machin suggested around 85% of its online operations are likely to be restored soon, as the company focuses on certain parts of its operations first. He added that clothing and home sales have been 'resilient' in stores in recent weeks. Meanwhile, food sales were affected by reduced availability but the business stressed this is 'already improving'. The group has also reported 'additional waste and logistics costs' after switching to manual processes following the attack. M&S said the incident is likely to drag its group operating profits down by around £300 million this year, but it expects this to be reduced through cost management, insurance and other reactions. The company suggested it could reduce the impact of the attack by as much as 'half'. Mr Machin said: 'It has been challenging, but it is a moment in time, and we are now focused on recovery, with the aim of exiting this period a much stronger business. 'There is no change to our strategy and our longer-term plans to reshape M&S for growth and, if anything, the incident allows us to accelerate the pace of change as we draw a line and move on. 'This incident is a bump in the road, and we will come out of this in better shape, and continue our plan to reshape M&S for customers, colleagues and shareholders.' It came as the company reported a higher-than-expected adjusted pre-tax profit of £875.5 million for the year to March, up 22.2% on the previous year. The group was buoyed stronger profits in its food arm, which saw sales increase by 8.7% to £9 billion over the year. M&S revenues grew by 6% to £13.8 billion as a whole for the year, as fashion, home and beauty sales grew by 3.5%. The company is currently undergoing a major transformation programme, which is including changes to its shop estate. The retailer, which currently has 565 stores, said it plans to have 600 stores by 2028, comprising 420 bigger food stores and 180 full clothing, home and food stores. It added that the plan is still on track despite the recent disruption. M&S also said it has accelerated plans to invest in improvements to its technology to now take place over the next six months, after previously indicating it would take two years.
Zawya
21-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
M&S says cyber attack was result of human error
LONDON: The chief executive of Marks & Spencer said on Wednesday he could not comment on whether the retailer had paid a ransom in a cyber attack which has cost it about 300 million pounds ($402.39 million) and which he said was the result of "human error". ($1 = 0.7455 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey and Paul Sandle, writing by Sarah Young, editing by Catarina Demony)
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
M&S says cyber attack was result of human error, declines to comment on ransom
LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), opens new tab said on Wednesday he could not comment on whether the retailer had paid a ransom in a cyber attack which has cost it about 300 million pounds ($402.39 million) and which he said was the result of "human error". ($1 = 0.7455 pounds)
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
M&S hackers 'got into system due to colossal blunder - and sat in system for 52 hours before alarm was raised'
Hackers went undetected in Marks and Spencer 's systems for up to 52 hours before the alarm was raised in what insiders are describing as a 'colossal mistake'. Believed to have been from the Scattered Spider group, the attackers got into the retailer's IT systems via a contractor. The hackers were then able to work undetected in the systems for just over two days before finally being uncovered, a source said. Once discovered, emergency response teams battled tirelessly to protect the beloved British store, frequented by up to 9.4million active customers, throughout a five-day 'attack phase'. 'What went wrong was human error. Human error is a polite word for somebody making a colossal mistake,' a source told The Times. Three weeks on and teams are still working around the clock to get the online shop back up and running. 'There's people who haven't slept for three nights,' an insider said. 'Getting back to where we really want to be is going to be weeks, not days, but we'll have an online presence quite soon.' In a statement to MailOnline, a spokesperson for M&S said: 'We are working closely with government and law enforcement agencies and as you would expect we cannot share any detail or comment on speculation around the incident itself, since we first reported it, and we have been advised not to.' It is understood that the M&S website could take weeks to go back online while stock availability across stores is expected to return to normal next week. Since the attack, the British high street retailer is understood to have hemorrhaged £1billion of value on the stock exchange. The retailer also admitted criminals have taken information including 'masked' payment card details used for online purchases - typically the last four digits of a card. But M&S chief executive Stuart Machin clarified that although the hackers had taken personal data, this 'does not include useable card of payment details'. While it is unknown how many shoppers have been affected by the attack, several customers have reported an 'exponential' increase in the number of scam messages and emails received, pretending to be M&S. In a letter to customers, M&S operations director Jayne Wall urged people to be cautious and avoid giving out any personal details to unknown callers. She wrote: 'Unfortunately, the nature of the incident means that some personal customer data has been taken, but there is no evidence that it has been shared. 'The personal data could include contact details, date of birth and online order history. However, importantly, the data does not include useable card or payment details, and it also does not include any account passwords.' Ms Wall added: 'You do not need to take any action, but you might receive emails, calls or texts claiming to be from M&S when they are not, so do be cautious. 'Remember that we will never contact you and ask you to provide us with personal account information, like usernames, and we will never ask you to give us your password.' While customer data has not yet appeared on leak sites, experts have not ruled out that it could be a possibility, with Rafe Pilling, director of intelligence at Sophos, an IT security company stressing that hackers could be 'leveraging data' from the breach. Comprising of predominantly British and American online hackers, the Scattered Spider group are believed to have been responsible due to the attack's pattern, alongside their use of DragonForce software to help the hackers break into the shop's system. The devastating attack comes as M&S await their annual financial results announcement on May 21. A world away from the overwhelming success of their previous financial year, where they made a profit of £840million, M&S chief executive Stuart Machin, alongside chairman Archie Norman, are both set to face an abundance of questions about the company's preparation for the attack. Indeed, Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, warned that 2025 'is going down in history as one of the retailer's worst ever years'. Speaking to MailOnline, he added: 'M&S has a duty to inform customers as soon as possible if their personal information has been illegally accessed, so it's worrying that the retailer took so long to go public.' While stock is expected to return to Co-op stores this weekend, it is understood that it quickly pulled the plug on its computer system not long after receiving advice from M&S While M&S shareholder Danny Wallace told The Times he felt 'disappointed' for the two businessmen, he accepted that 'somebody has to have the blame'. Meanwhile, Alan Woodward, University of Surrey cyber security professor, said that he believed the fact the store has still failed to reinstate their online sales, with customers having been unable to take any orders through the website or app since April 25, 'suggests they were a little less prepared than maybe they should have been'. Describing the attack as 'embarrassing, retail expert Richard Hyman believed that the retailer, which first opened for business in 1884, would no doubt 'survive' the financial implications of the attack, alongside any damage caused to its reputation. On May 2, the Information Commissioner's Office said it was also looking into the attack, as well as a similar major incident involving M&S' competitor, the Co-op. The business was forced to issue an apology to customers after hackers accessed and extracted members' personal data, such as names and contact details, with it continuing to suffer availability problems as a result of the attack. While stock is expected to return to Co-op stores this weekend, it is understood that it quickly pulled the plug on its computer system not long after receiving advice from M&S. The National Crime Agency said: 'We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate. We are considering the incidents individually. However, we are mindful they may be linked and therefore this will remain under review.'
