{"id":68014,"date":"2025-07-09T14:14:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=68014"},"modified":"2025-07-09T14:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:14:25","slug":"social-engineering-101-what-the-ms-attack-can-teach-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/social-engineering-101-what-the-ms-attack-can-teach-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Engineering 101: What the M&S Attack Can Teach Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marks & Spencer (M&S), one of the UK\u2019s best-known retail stores, recently confirmed that it suffered a major cyberattack. The breach happened after hackers pulled off a sneaky trick to get into the company\u2019s computer system. Here’s a breakdown of what happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Hack: A Clever Trick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On April 17, M&S fell victim to what experts call a social engineering attack. But what does that mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, a hacker pretended to be someone who works with M&S\u2014out of the 50,000 people connected to the company. This fake identity was so convincing that it tricked an outside company into resetting a real employee\u2019s password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the hackers had that password, they used it to break into M&S\u2019s network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Who Got Tricked?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The password reset was reportedly<\/a> done by Tata Consultancy Services<\/strong>, an outside company that helps M&S with IT support. Tata may have been tricked by the hackers into thinking they were helping a real employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Who’s Behind the Attack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ransomware group DragonForce<\/strong> is believed to be behind the attack. There\u2019s been some confusion around this name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n