Co-op has admitted that all 6.5million people on its membership scheme had their details stolen in a cyber attack.
The supermarket chain was breached in April, causing limited damage to its back office and call centre services.
Co-op initially said it took ‘steps to keep systems safe’ and that there was ‘no evidence that customer data was compromised’.
The retailer yanked the plug on its computer network to stop the thieves after they infected it with malicious software called malware.
Yet CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq told the BBC this morning that the incident was far worse than thought.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
She said: ‘There was no financial data, no transaction data, but it was names and addresses and contact information that was lost.’
Khoury-Haq said she was ‘devastated’ by the attack and was ‘incredibly sorry’ for it.
She added: ‘Early on, I met with our IT staff and they were in the midst of it. I will never forget the looks on their faces, trying to fight off these criminals.’
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
