I want to update you on the situation relating to the Cyber-attack on the Co-op Group that you may well have read about in the press.
Firstly, I want to reassure you that as a member of Midcounties Co-op, none of our systems have been affected by this cyber-attack and none of your data has been accessed.
The Co-op Group which is headquartered in Manchester operates on entirely different systems to ourselves.
Whilst Co-op Group are a totally separate organisation to us, we do rely on them for the distribution of much of our food products into our stores.
I’m pleased to say that the proactive action the Co-op Group have taken in securing their systems as quickly as possible after the cyber-attack has prevented any further access by the hackers, but it has led to significant issues on availability over the past couple of weeks.
The systems are now all back up and running and product is starting to flow back into our stores. It may however take a week or so to return to normal levels.
Obviously, I apologise for that, and for any inconvenience this may have caused you whilst shopping with us.
I’m extremely grateful to our hard-working colleagues as they have done their very best in very difficult circumstances and are now working extremely hard to restock our stores.
I’d also like to recognise the efforts of many of our local suppliers who have given us so much support in supplying additional volume at very short notice to us over the past few days. We have worked in close partnership with so many local businesses over the years, and I’m grateful for their support when we needed it.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support for our Society.
Phil Ponsonby
Chief Executive Officer