Co-op staff told to turn cameras on in meetings amid security concerns after cyber attack

Co-op staff have been told to keep their cameras on during remote meetings as the supermarket deals with the fallout of a cyber-attack.

An internal email seen by ITV urged 70,000 workers at the company’s supermarket, funeral service and insurance company to be vigilant and verify all meeting attendees.

"Don't record or transcribe Teams calls,” the email’s advice reportedly reads.

Co-op, which has over 7,000 stores across the UK, had to shut down parts of its IT systems on Wednesday after an attempted hack.

It said some of its back office and call centre services have been affected but that all stores, including grocery and funeral homes, are trading as usual.

The email also reportedly shows that the company has shut off remote access, meaning workers cannot access applications that require a VPN from home.

The email also reportedly urged employees not to share sensitive information on Teams and to report suspicious messages and emails.

The company told the BBC that the cyber attack is under control and all measures are “proactive”.

A Co-op spokesperson said on Wednesday: “We have recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems.

“As a result, we have taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe, which has resulted in a small impact to some of our back office and call centre services.”

It comes after Scotland Yard was called in to investigate a cyberattack that left Marks & Spencer unable to fulfil contactless payments and click and collect orders, leaving it with empty shelves and a slashed market value.

The company confirmed on Thursday that it has pulled all online job adverts from its website as tech experts seek to resolve problems on its platforms.

A message on the company’s jobs website said: “Sorry you can’t search or apply for roles right now, we’re working hard to be back online as soon as possible.”

On Thursday, the company had no jobs listed anywhere across its UK business despite having more than 200 job openings this time last week.