With threats afar and local, the need to stash essentials is obvious. If anyone can source jerk chicken in a tin, do let me know

I have seen the future. It was one morning last week – at the Co-op . Shelves that once groaned now had nothing much on them. Sad signs where the baked beans and tinned tuna once lived reduced to a study in impotence. Following a cyber-attack more than two weeks ago that decimated its supply systems, the supermarket has struggled to recover. We would like to sell you stuff, but our cupboard is empty, the shelves say, as yours must now be.

Surveying the emptiness, I turned to the stocky stranger beside me who was reaching into the pastry cupboard with the plastic tongs. “This is what it will be like when the bomb drops,” I said. He smiled, nodded, and grabbed another croissant. He’s smart. If this is what is coming, what a simple cyber-attack can wreak – nothing to do with Enola Gay or the Peaky Blinders bloke as Oppenheimer – two croissants a day will seem an ambitious diet.

Are you prepping yet? I haven’t been. Things are bleak and the world seems as tinderbox dangerous as it has been in my lifetime, but I have yet to fill the apocalypse preparatory bag, as so many have , and as an increasing number of governments say we should all be doing.

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Information including applicants’ criminal records downloaded in April cyber-attack, justice ministry confirms

A “significant amount of personal data” of people who applied online to the Legal Aid Agency since 2010, including criminal records, was accessed and downloaded in a cyber-attack in April, the Ministry of Justice has said.

More details soon …

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Retailer still reeling from online shutdown with fashion sales expected to be worst hit

Shoppers and shareholders will look this week to Marks & Spencer to share more information about the impact of a damaging cyber-attack and whether the retailer can give clues on when it will be able to restart online orders .

The UK’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells food and homewares, has been struggling for almost a month since its IT systems were hit over the Easter weekend. The attack forced it to stop its online operations and has also affected availability of some products in stores.

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US retailers being targeted after attacks on Britain’s Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods

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UK-based members of the Scattered Spider hacking community are actively “facilitating” cyber-attacks, according to Google, as disruption to British retailers spreads to the US.

A group of hackers labelled “Scattered Spider” have been linked with attacks on UK retailers Marks & Spencer , the Co-op and Harrods , with Google cybersecurity experts warning this week that unnamed retailers across the Atlantic are being targeted as well.

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Hackers paid overseas Coinbase employees for account data; company is offering $20m reward for information

The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the US forecast that a cyber-attack that breached account data of a “small subset” of its customers would cost it between $180m and $400m. Coinbase said that price tag would not include the $20m ransom demanded by the hackers, which the company refused to pay.

Coinbase, which sees the largest volume of cryptocurrency trades in the US, said that while the attackers stole some data including names, addresses and emails, they did not get access to login credentials or passwords. It will, however, reimburse the customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attackers.

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Alphabet warns of ‘Scattered Spider’, network of hackers reportedly behind cyber-attack against UK retail giant M&S

Alphabet’s Google warned on Wednesday that hackers responsible for paralyzing disruptions of UK retailers are turning their attention to similar companies in the United States.

“US retailers should take note. These actors are aggressive, creative, and particularly effective at circumventing mature security programs,” John Hultquist, an analyst at Google’s cybersecurity arm, said in an email sent on Wednesday.

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Group in ‘recovery phase’ and working closely with suppliers after customers complain of empty shelves

The Co-op has said that stock availability in its stores will not improve until this weekend, as it struggles to recover from a cyber-attack two weeks ago .

The grocery to funerals mutual said it was now in the “recovery phase” and “working closely with our suppliers to restock our stores” after bringing its stock ordering system back online. The system was closed down as part of efforts to fend off the cyber-attack .

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Retailer working ‘day and night’ to tackle incident that has hit its online operations

The boss of Marks & Spencer has urged customers to come into its stores to shop in person this bank holiday weekend as the retailer works “day and night” to tackle the cyber-attack that has crippled its online operation.

The retailer’s IT systems were hit by a major ransomware attack almost two weeks ago. It is still not taking online orders , and the availability of some products in its stores has been affected after it took some of its systems offline in response.

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Luxury department store is forced to shut some systems but website and shops continue to operate

Harrods has been hit by a cyber-attack, just days after Marks & Spencer and the Co-op were targeted.

The luxury department store is understood to have been forced to shut down some systems, as first reported by Sky News, but said its website and all its stores, including the Knightsbridge flagship, H Beauty and airport outlets, continued to operate.

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