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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has issued a clarification denying the report of the UK media on the cancellation of contract by Marks & Spencer (M&S) following cyberattack-related failures. TCS said the report is misleading and factually incorrect, particularly regarding the size of the contract and the status of its work with Marks & Spencer (M&S). The company clarified that the M&S service desk contract ended after a regular competitive bidding process that began in January 2025, and M&S chose other partners well before the April 2025 cyber incident. TCS said the two events are completely unrelated. “The report published by The Telegraph is misleading, with factual inaccuracies including the size of the contract and the continuity of TCS’ work for Marks & Spencer (M&S). As both M&S and TCS have clarified, the service desk contract with M&S followed a regular competitive RFP process initiated in January 2025, with M&S opting to proceed with other partners much prior to the cyber incident in April 2025. These matters are hence clearly unrelated,” TCS said in its report. TCS continues to work on numerous other areas, in its roles as a strategic partner for M&S and is proud of this longstanding partnership. On the Cyber incident itself, as clarified previously, TCS had conducted a scan of its own networks and systems and been able to conclude that the vulnerabilities have not originated from there. TCS does not provide cyber security services to M&S. This is a service that is provided by another partner.” Shares of TCS gained 1 per cent intraday on Monday, October 27 to trade at Rs 3,089 per share around 10:00 am. The scrip opened at Rs 3,066.50 apiece against the previous day close at Rs 3,063 per share. According to The Telegraph, the cyberattack on Marks & Spencer was carried out by a hacker group known as Scattered Spider, which allegedly gained access to the retailer’s systems through “social engineering” tactics — by calling IT helpdesks and impersonating company executives to get passwords reset. The report also quoted M&S chairman Archie Norman, who told MPs in July that hackers had used “sophisticated impersonation” involving a third party to breach the company’s systems.
