Co-op cyber attack leaves island shop shelves empty

Some Co-op stores across Scotland's islands have been running low on fresh food supplies following a cyber attack on the company.

Co-op is the main retailer in Skye and pictures from its supermarket in Portree show row upon row of empty shelves. Shops in the Western Isles have also been affected.

The disruption comes after the company told the BBC on Friday the attack on its systems had resulted in "significant" amounts of customer data being stolen.

A Co-op spokesperson said deliveries to its stores were also impacted by the "sustained malicious attempts by hackers to access our systems", and staff were working around the clock to reduce disruption.

Co-op is the main grocery shop in many of the affected areas, though there are several smaller independent retailers.

Deliveries to some stores in other parts of the UK have also been affected.

Adam Gordon, of Radio Skye, said milk was rationed at the Portree supermarket before it all sold out.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Lunchtime Live programme: "It's a boorach (mess) here at the Co-op.

"There's no fresh milk, all fruit and veg is gone, there's no meat and no dairy."

Mr Gordon said there were similar situations at Co-ops in Broadford and Kyle of Lochalsh.

He said staff expected fresh deliveries to arrive in "dribs and drabs".

Rupert Marshall, who runs a B&B in South Uist in the Western Isles, said some items had been running low for several days.

He said: "It's one of those situations where you don't know if they will have anything when you go in.

"At the weekend there was no milk and I had to drive 30 miles to the other end of the island to a different supermarket, but also supplied by Co-op, where it was being rationed."

Mr Marshall said he had been back to his nearest store, but found that 80% of fruit and vegetables were gone - though there still seemed to be plenty of bananas.

In the Western Isles, there is a Tesco in Stornoway.

Co-op said all its stores were open and trading.

A spokesperson added: "However, due to the sustained malicious attempts by hackers to access our systems, we have taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe, which is temporarily impacting our colleagues' ability to perform their roles and how many deliveries we can make to our stores.

"This means that some of our stores might not have all of their usual products available and we would like to say sorry to our members and customers if this is the case in their local store.

"We would like to thank our colleagues, members, customers and suppliers for their understanding during this time."

On Monday, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned that criminals launching cyber attacks at British retailers were impersonating IT help desks to break into organisations.

Hackers have targeted Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods in the last two weeks, and on Friday the anonymous group told the BBC there will be more attacks soon.

NCSC, the government agency responsible for cyber security, has issued guidance to organisations urging them to review their IT helpdesk "password reset processes" to reduce their chances of getting hacked.