Ransomware and extortion attacks against global retailers are escalating at an alarming pace. According to CISA, as of May 2025, the FBI was aware of approximately 900 affected entities allegedly exploited by the ransomware actors.
Scattered Spider is a highly organized hacker collective that has breached more than 100 organizations since 2022, spanning various industries including retail, hospitality, gaming and manufacturing. Their recent high-profile retail victims include Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Co-op, alongside major U.S. retailers such as United Natural Foods.
For retail CISOs, these attacks serve as a reminder of the operational paralysis, lost revenue, damaged brand trust and prolonged recovery times that can result from such incidents. The sophistication of Scattered Spider’s methods demands a fresh, more aggressive approach to security.
What Makes Scattered Spider’s Attacks Especially Dangerous?
Unlike many ransomware gangs that rely on brute-force tactics, Scattered Spider employs a blended strategy that combines social engineering and technical precision. The group gains initial access by impersonating IT staff, tricking employees via voice phishing (vishing) and launching Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) fatigue attacks — a tactic that involves bombarding users with authentication prompts until one is mistakenly approved.
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Once inside the network, the attackers deploy Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools to establish control and persistence. They cleverly utilize Living Off the Land (LOTL) techniques, leveraging legitimate administrative tools already within the environment to evade detection by security systems like Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).
Scattered Spider also executes SIM swapping attacks to hijack mobile numbers linked to accounts, further undermining MFA safeguards. Their malware arsenal is supplemented by custom code and known administrative exploits, enabling them to move laterally across networks with stealth and precision.
This level of coordination and adaptability allowed the group to cause massive disruptions. Online transactions halted, contactless payment systems failed, click-and-collect services collapsed and merchandise availability negatively impacted retailers. This wasn’t just a technical outage — it was a direct hit to revenue streams, customer loyalty and shareholder confidence.
The Recovery: Think Months, Not Days
For retailers like M&S, full recovery from a Scattered Spider-style ransomware attack is estimated to take three to six months — a timeline that can financially devastate even established companies. This includes not just system restoration but also forensic investigations, network rebuilds, regulatory notifications and damage control with customers and partners.
Retailers face unique challenges: their infrastructures are widely distributed across physical stores, ecommerce platforms, payment processors and third-party logistics providers. A vulnerability in any link of this chain can open the door to attackers.
Moreover, ransomware isn’t a one-and-done event. With many adversaries employing double or even triple extortion techniques, the fallout often includes data leaks, regulatory fines and persistent reputational damage.
4 Critical Lessons for Retail CISOs Post-Scattered Spider
To mitigate the risk of future attacks and strengthen cyber resilience, retail security leaders must implement the following:
- Invest in continuous security training at the human layer: Social engineering was the primary entry point for Scattered Spider. Retailers must equip employees — especially those in IT help desks and customer support — with ongoing, adaptive training programs. This means conducting quarterly simulations of phishing, vishing and social engineering scenarios, and ensuring staff can recognize and report suspicious interactions before attackers gain a foothold.
- Deploy adversary emulation to validate security defenses: Organizations must regularly test their defenses by emulating the actual tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors like Scattered Spider. Using frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, combined with adversary emulation platforms, enables teams to simulate real-world attacks and assess how well their detection, prevention and response mechanisms hold up against current threats.
- Adopt an assume breach mindset paired with purple teaming: Security leaders should operate under the assumption that breaches are inevitable and prepare accordingly. This involves purple teaming, where offensive (red team) and defensive (blue team) experts collaborate to identify vulnerabilities and improve defenses. A mature security program also includes continuous threat hunting — actively searching for indicators of compromise even when no breach is detected — and ensuring teams can swiftly contain, isolate and remediate any intrusion.
- Rethink identity security, MFA and SSO strategies: Many organizations treat MFA and SSO as bulletproof, but Scattered Spider proved otherwise. Retailers must strengthen MFA implementations by adding protections like number matching, device-bound authentication and biometrics. Additionally, it’s essential to enforce least-privilege access, monitor for identity misuse and regularly audit and test IAM (Identity and Access Management) controls to close any exploitable gaps.
If Attacked: Recovery and Response Best Practices
If an organization suffers an attack, paying the ransom is strongly discouraged — not only because it fuels criminal enterprises, but because it brands the company as an easy target for future extortion.
Instead, the response should include:
- Conducting a comprehensive forensic analysis to understand the scope of impact, including data exfiltration, encryption and compromised assets.
- Segmenting and isolating affected systems immediately to prevent lateral movement.
- Remediating via clean, verified backups and ensuring all restored systems are free of malware before reconnecting to the broader network.
- Engaging external incident response experts if internal capabilities are lacking — time is critical to contain damage.
Benefits of Prevention Rather Than Recovery
Retailers must recognize that cybersecurity is not just a technology investment — it’s a business continuity imperative. The costs of downtime, reputational harm, regulatory penalties and recovery far outweigh the investments required to proactively defend against sophisticated attackers like Scattered Spider.
Retailers should also integrate emulation and validation tools into their security stack. These tools simulate the latest attack methods, offering insights into how well current defenses stand up against evolving threats. When aligned with MITRE ATT&CK frameworks, these simulations help prioritize security investments where they’re needed most, reducing overall risk and improving resilience.
By enhancing employee training, rigorously testing defenses, preparing for breaches and fortifying identity security, retail CISOs can build a defense-in-depth strategy that reduces risk and minimizes potential disruption.
Andrew Costis (“AC”) is the Engineering Manager of the Adversary Research Team at AttackIQ. He has over 22 years of professional industry experience and previously worked in the Threat Analysis Unit (TAU) team at VMware Carbon Black and LogRhythm Labs, performing security research, reverse engineering malware, tracking and discovering new campaigns and threats.
