Spar shops closed by cyberattack

The Spar convenience store chain has been hit by a cyberattack that led to the closure of hundreds of shops.

More than 300 were affected by the attack, although not all have had to close. Those still open were accepting only cash yesterday as debit and credit cards could not be processed.

The attack targeted James Hall & Co, in Preston, which runs Spar’s tills and IT systems in the north of England. Spar said it had affected all of its computer systems, including emails.

It has not been revealed what type of attack occurred and whether it involved ransomware. Such attacks encrypt all of a company’s online data and lock users out of their entire IT system, before asking for a ransom payment to