Supermarket chain denies data breach

Supermarket chain Marks & Spencer (M&S) has denied that it had suffered a data breach after customers reported seeing other people's contact details when they logged-on to the retailer's web site this week.

Even as it denied that it had been the victim of a hack on Wednesday, it however, suspended its web site as it sought to investigate the issue.

The high street retailer had since clarified that no financial data was exposed and that the information that some customers saw on the website was in fact the result of a "technical issue".

"Due to a technical issue we temporarily suspended our web site for a period last night," the company said in a statement.

"This allowed us to thoroughly investigate and resolve the issue and quickly restore service for our customers. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused."

An M&S representative confirmed that the website had been taken down at about 6.30 pm GMT, but had been restored 9pm.

According to commentators, it did not come as a surprise that people might have jumped to the conclusion that the problem was due to a hack.

According to the supermarket chain, the ''internal technical problem'', had not compromised anyone's details, but it apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

Customers were shocked when they logged in to their online accounts to see other people's orders, and some claimed they could see payment details.

The firm temporarily suspended its website on Tuesday night as it investigated "technical difficulties", according to a spokeswoman.

She added that customers might have been able to see the last four digits of another person's payment card "for a brief moment", but added as the details were encrypted there was no security risk.

"There were no financial details compromised at all," she said. "We weren't hacked by a third party. It was an internal technical problem."