Yahoo Finance Marks & Spencer Sorry After Website Suspended
Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSF - news) suspended its website for two hours after customers were able to partially view other people's details when they accessed their accounts.
The company said no one's financial details were compromised by what it called an "internal technical problem", but apologised to customers for the inconvenience.
Customers said they were shocked when they logged in to their accounts and saw other people's orders, with some claiming they could see payment details.
A spokeswoman said Marks & Spencer temporarily suspended its website on Tuesday evening while it investigated the "technical difficulties".
She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) added that customers may have been able to see the last four digits of another person's payment card "for a brief moment", but stressed that because full financial details are encrypted there was no security risk.
She said: "There were no financial details compromised at all."
"We weren't hacked by a third party. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was an internal technical problem."
Wendie Mitchell wrote on the firm's Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) page that she had been able to see two people's accounts when she tried to purchase some jeans for her husband's birthday.
Another said she saw other people's information even after logging out and logging in again.
Mandy Green was among many who called for Marks & Spencer to reassure customers their accounts had not been compromised.
She wrote: "What reassurances are you offering to customers as I now feel that my details could be misused by anyone?"
A spokeswoman for the company said: "Due to a technical issue we temporarily suspended our website last night.
"This allowed us to thoroughly investigate and resolve the issue and quickly restore service for our customers.
"We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused."
The issue comes as it was reported the identities of "tens of thousands" of British people are up for sale on the Dark Web, an underground version of the web that is accessed using special software.
The Financial Times said the details of more than 600,000 customers were stolen from companies in the UK last year.
Telecoms company TalkTalk was targeted in a cyber attack last week, in which it said bank account numbers and sort codes may have been accessed.
Chief executive Dido Harding told Sky News at the weekend the data stolen is not enough for hackers to raid customers' bank accounts (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .
