The cyber-attack is costly and embarrassing. But M&S should pull through

An M&S store in Victoria, London. The website, which is where the cyber crisis was concentrated (and still is), accounts for only a tenth of sales. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Shouldn’t a robust IT system be able to withstand the odd “human error”, such as somebody at a third-party supplier being hoodwinked by devious cybercriminals? Isn’t £300m at the expensive end for these events? And should it really take four-and-a-half weeks, and counting, for one of the UK’s biggest and well-resourced retailers to restore its website to working order?

The response of Marks & Spencer’s chief executive, Stuart Machin, to such questions ran along these lines: the incident had nothing to do with underinvestment in IT; everyone is vulnerable; M&S was unlucky; the “moment in time” will pass and everything will be back to normal by July at the latest.