CI Coop staff are working “around the clock” to resolve stock issues in Jersey after a cyber attack hit UK stores.
Channel Islands Cooperative CEO Mark Cox thanked local customers for their “patience and understanding”, adding that he expected to see “daily improvements in product supply”.
It was confirmed last week that the personal data of CI Coop members was unaffected by a cyber attack on UK stores, but food deliveries to the Channel Islands were “temporarily impacted”.
Today, CI Coop explained that the supply issues were not a direct result of the cyber attack, but were instead due to “proactive steps” taken to keep systems safe.
Mr Cox said: “We are very sorry if this means our members and customers might not be able to buy some of their usual products from us at the moment.
“We have been working around the clock to reduce disruption, sourcing alternative products both locally and from other suppliers, working to get back to full product availability as soon as possible.”
He added: “We expect to see daily improvements in product supply to our stores, we are focused on ensuring key products such as fresh foods are prioritised as part if the recovery plan.”
Co-op Group – which operates 2,500 supermarket stores, 800 funeral homes and an insurance business in the UK – recently admitted that its IT systems had been hacked by a criminal group which resulted in a large amount of employee and customer data being stolen.
DragonForce, the cyber criminals that took responsibility for the attack, claim to have stolen the personal details of 20 million people in the UK as a result of the hack – including phone numbers and dates of birth.
The group also claimed responsibility for a similar cyber attack on M&S, and an attempted hack of Harrods.
Mr Cox explained: “We are now working on recovery phase and expect to see product availability improve in our stores on a daily basis as systems in the UK come back online.”