Cyber attacks 'more sophisticated' says ex-Mayor

Former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has warned that cyber attacks have become "more sophisticated" following a spate of incidents at national retailers.

Hackers have targeted Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods in the past two weeks, with the government's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issuing guidance to organisations to reduce their chances of getting hacked.

Sir Andy, a former boss of John Lewis, said the company was "very lucky" to have "never actually had a successful cyber attack".

"Even 10 years ago when I was responsible for John Lewis, we were spending even then a number of millions on our defences," he said.

The NCSC has warned that criminals launching cyber attacks at British retailers are impersonating IT help desks to break into organisations.

Sir Andy, who was managing director at John Lewis from 2007 to 2016, said cyber attacks were something everyone needed to be aware of and big businesses were having to spend a lot of money to defend themselves.

"As the boss, we had to put money aside to try to make sure our defences were good," he said.

"Certainly even 10 years ago it was a real threat and of course the threat has become much more sophisticated now."

Sir Andy was elected as the first mayor of the West Midlands in May 2017 and served two terms for the Conservatives before he lost to Labour's Richard Parker in May 2024.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Sir Andy said businesses had to make a judgement "about the risk against the reward" when it came to cyber security.

"If you look at what it's cost M&S in lost revenue, lost profit, lost reputation, there is definitely a business case for spending considerable sums of money on it," he added.

"This is probably a way of life, certainly for the foreseeable future."

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