M&S hackers 'sent abuse and ransom demand directly to CEO'

6 June 2025, 08:27

Hackers sent an abusive email to the boss of Marks & Spencer gloating about their actions and demanding payment.

The message to M&S CEO Stuart Machin in broken English was sent on the 23 April from a hacker group called DragonForce.

It came from the email account of an M&S employee.

"We have marched the ways from China all the way to the UK and have mercilessly raped your company and encrypted all the servers," the hackers wrote.

"The dragon wants to speak to you so please head over to [our darknet website]."

The message was reportedly sent to the M&S CEO and seven other executives.

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Hackers boasted that they installed ransomware across the M&S IT system and stole private data of millions of customers. The hack cost the firm upwards of £300m.

The M&S CEO has refused to say if the company has paid a ransom.

It comes days after Mr Machin saw his pay package soar to £7.1 million, as he leads the retailer through the disruption of the damaging cyber attack.

Mr Machin, chief executive of the high street giant since 2022, received the bumper pay deal after a sharp rise in performance-linked bonuses.

The company’s latest annual report revealed that Mr Machin saw his total pay deal, including bonuses and benefits, rise by 39% to £7.1 million for the year to March 2025.

His pay package included £4.6 million of long-term performance-based bonuses, which he cannot access for at least two more years, as well as a £1.6 million bonus linked to M&S’s performance over the year.

He also received around £894,000 of fixed pay and pensions benefit for the year.

Bosses confirmed in the report that Mr Machin’s fixed salary will increase by 2% for the new financial year.

It is understood that the firm’s remuneration committee did not take the recent cyber attack into account regarding the pay deal, as this took place following the year end.

However, it is expected to consider this when calculating executive pay deals for 2025-26.

He received the higher pay deal after leading the company through a major turnaround strategy which has seen M&S return its clothing and home sales to growth and boost profitability.

In April, shares in the company rose to their highest level for almost nine years due to improving trading.

However, the retailer – which runs 565 stores across the UK – has faced heavy disruption since the Easter weekend after being struck by a major cyber attack.

M&S halted orders on its website and saw empty shelves after being targeted by hackers.

Customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was also taken by hackers in the attack.

M&S is still unable to process any online orders, although it is understood the retailer is hoping to partly restore this within two to three weeks.

Mr Machin told reporters that hackers gained access to the company’s IT systems through a third party after “human error”.

In the annual report, M&S chairman Archie Norman said the significant impact of the hack – which is expected to cost the firm around £300 million – is likely to “endure for some weeks, or even months”.

He added: “I am confident that in a year’s time the cyber incident will prove to have been a bump in the road along the path to growth, even if it does not feel like that today.

“However, coming on top of a very strong trading year it has stretched the sinews of the management team and we have seen an extraordinary response from our colleagues in the support centre, in our logistics centres and particularly in our stores.”

An M&S spokeswoman said: “CEO pay is decided by the board and reflects performance against stretching pre-set targets.

“Almost 90% of Stuart’s pay is linked to performance of the business and the share price – therefore his total pay for full-year 2025 reflects the strong performance and growth of M&S under his leadership over the last three years.

“Over 75% of Stuart’s pay is made up of long-term and deferred share awards, subject to waiting periods and tied to future share price performance.

“This year, our strong performance meant we could make our biggest ever investment in store colleague pay.

“Additionally, over 5,000 colleagues, including store managers, received a bonus. We also returned more value to shareholders with an increased dividend payment.”