Harrods, the luxury London department store, has become the latest in a string of prominent retailers to be targeted by cyber hackers.
Sky News has learnt that Harrods has been engaged in attempts to fend off a cyber attack after similar incidents in recent days involving Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group.
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Further details of the apparent Harrods cyberattack were unclear on Thursday afternoon, although one customer of the upmarket store told Sky News he had been unable to pay for a purchase earlier in the day.
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In a statement issued in response to an enquiry from Sky News, a Harrods spokesperson said: “We recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems.
“Our 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.
“Currently, all sites including our Knightsbridge store, H beauty stores and airport stores remain open to welcome customers.
“Customers can also continue to shop via harrods.com.
“We are not asking our customers to do anything differently at this point, and we will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
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The concentration of cyber attacks on retailers underscores the growing centrality of the risk attached to consumer-facing companies’ online operations.
Harrods, which is owned by a Qatari sovereign wealth fund, is said to be engaging specialists to help resolve and investigate the issue.
M&S has been unable to accept online orders for the last week as a result of its cyber incident.
