After retailer Marks & Spencer faced serious cyber incidents, the co-op was forced to shut down certain parts of its IT system after discovering an attempted hack.

The reciprocity, in a letter to the Guardian on Tuesday, saw that it had “taken measures to ensure the security of the system” and therefore “temporarily revoked certain systems.”

The group has 2,000 grocery stores and more than 800 funeral stores as well as legal and financial services businesses.

It said measures to protect its systems include closing business services and their legal services for certain business services.

The cooperative said all its stores, including fast home delivery, are traded as usual, just like funeral homes.

The spokesperson said: “We have recently experienced unauthorized access to some of our systems.

“So we took positive steps to ensure the security of the system, which had a small impact on some of our backend and call center services.

“We are working to reduce any disruption to the service and would like to thank our colleagues, members, partners and suppliers for their understanding during this period.”

The cooperative said, “Our members or clients are not required to do anything different at the moment”, indicating that it does not believe that customer data has been accessed. It added: “We will continue to provide updates as needed.”

A source said the shutdown caused the shutdown to shut down virtual desktops throughout the business, which affected many behind-the-scenes operations that require support from the head office, including inventory updates.

Problems arise as M&S continues to address major issues arising from cyber incidents related to hackers’ collectively dispersed spiders.

The cooperative did not disclose whether it detected attempts to attack its system due to additional checks on the M&S incident. However, it does tell employees that "protecting our systems is crucial" and refers to "the latest issues with M&S and the cyber attacks they have experienced."

Business said, technology will play an important role in reducing costs and dealing with shoplifting.

The co-op’s grocery store is currently rolling out technology, including electronic shelf edge pricing to save store labor time and is expanding delivery of its fast track online grocery stores.

Retailers, including Morrisons, and their suppliers have faced a series of cyberattacks in recent years, with an incident involving Blue Blue Yonder, a technology provider last Christmas eve.

In 2023, WH Smith was attacked in which illegally accessed company data, including personal details of current and former employees. It was less than a year after a cyber attack on WH Smith's Funky Pigeon website, forcing it to stop accepting orders for about a week.