Co-op apologises after hackers extract ‘significant’ amount of customer data

Co-op said stolen confidential data included members’ names and contact details. It described the incident as a ‘highly complex situation’. Photograph: MediaWorldImages/Alamy

The Co-op has apologised after hackers accessed and extracted data relating to a “significant number” of its customers from one of its systems.

The group, which owns more than 2,000 grocery stores and more than 800 funeral parlours and offers legal and financial services, said hackers had been able to access personal data including names and contact details relating to an undisclosed number of the mutual’s current and past members – of which there are more than 6.2 million.