--- title: "The Co-op's Empty Shelves: Your Wake-Up Call for Human-Centric Cyber Security." description: An article discussing the co-op cyberattack that outlines why Omnissa is the solution to protect enterprise businesses from future attack - the article also includes a link to a free omnissa healthcheck. image: https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/hubfs/The%20Coop%20incident.png --- [Skip to content](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security#main-content) [![r-com-consulting-logo-1](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/r-com-consulting-logo-1.png?width=800&height=281&name=r-com-consulting-logo-1.png)](https://r-comconsulting.com/) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Contact us](https://r-comconsulting.com/contact/) [Contact us](https://r-comconsulting.com/contact/) Jul 24, 2025 11:44:14 AM # The Co-op's Empty Shelves: Your Wake-Up Call for Human-Centric Cyber Security. ![Picture of R-Com Consulting](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/favicon.png?width=50&name=favicon.png) [R-Com Consulting](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/author/r-com-consulting) Share: [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security) [Twitter icon](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security) [pinterest-p icon](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/the-co-ops-empty-shelves-your-wake-up-call-for-human-centric-cyber-security) Did you walk into a **Co-op** store a while back and find the shelves looking a little bare? That was the direct, real-world consequence of a sophisticated cyberattack by **Scattered Spider**, an elite, English-speaking threat group that's redefining cyber warfare. Scattered Spider doesn't just lurk at your network edge – they masterfully exploit the **human element**, bypassing technology to hit where it hurts most. Their May 2025 attack on major UK retailers, including the Co-op Group, is a stark warning: if a well-resourced organisation like Co-op can be compromised with visible operational impact, so can yours. ### How They Operate: Exposed by Co-op's Ordeal. Scattered Spider weaponise trust, process gaps, and human nature. Their primary tactics are alarmingly simple, yet devastatingly effective: 1. **Sophisticated Social Engineering:** In the Co-op incident, attackers reportedly impersonated employees to trick IT help desk staff into resetting a password, gaining initial network breach. This highlights their cunning, personalised vishing and smishing tactics. 2. **MFA Bypass:** They are experts at bypassing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) through techniques like MFA fatigue (bombarding users with prompts) or SIM swapping, gaining control of crucial accounts. 3. **Identity Exploitation:** Their ultimate goal is privileged access. Once they have credentials, they move laterally, abusing Single Sign-On (SSO) and identity platforms to extract data and establish persistence.   This focus on human vulnerability is critical: a staggering 74% of all breaches now involve the human element. (Verizon DBIR 2023) ### The Losses. When Scattered Spider strikes, the consequences ripple far beyond compromised data: 1. **Massive Data Theft:** Exfiltrating sensitive customer data, intellectual property, and critical business information (as seen with Co-op's membership data). 2. **Operational Paralysis:** Their attacks, often in collaboration with ransomware groups, lead to widespread system shutdowns and disrupted services – the very reason Co-op stores faced empty shelves as supply chains ground to a halt. 3. **Crippling Financial Loss:** The average cost of IT downtime alone can be £4,000 per minute for organisations like yours, not counting remediation, legal fees, and severe reputational damage. 4. **Eroded Trust:** Long-term damage to customer and stakeholder confidence.   ### Your Shield: R-COM Consulting & Omnissa (Horizon) You need a strategy that secures your users and their digital workspaces from the core, understanding that the human identity is the new perimeter. This is where **R-COM Consulting's strategic partnership with Omnissa (Horizon)** becomes your critical defence. Omnissa's digital workspace platform is engineered to directly counter Scattered Spider's tactics by: 1. **Securing Digital Workspaces:** Providing robust, controlled environments for every user, on any device. 2. **Centralised Identity & Access Management (IAM):** Strengthening authentication with context-aware access policies, making MFA bypass significantly harder – directly addressing the weakness exploited at Co-op. 3. **Protecting Sessions at the Edge:** Ensuring sensitive data and user interactions are secure whether on a corporate device or a personal one, in the office or remotely. 4. **Simplifying Management:** Giving IT teams a single pane of glass to manage user access, policy enforcement, and workspace delivery.   At R-COM Consulting, we don't just recommend solutions; we engineer and implement them. Our expertise ensures that Omnissa (Horizon) is integrated seamlessly, creating a resilient defence that understands and fortifies both your technology and your most valuable asset: your people. We build the*human firewall* your enterprise needs. ### Act Now. Let's talk about building a defence that understands the real enemy. *Discover how R-COM Consulting partners with Omnissa (Horizon) to deliver cutting-edge security:* [*Omnissa Partner Page*](https://r-comconsulting.com/partners/omnissa/) Get your FREE healthcheck here: [**https://shorturl.at/FltVw**](https://shorturl.at/FltVw) #CyberSecurity #ScatteredSpider #CoOpAttack #SocialEngineering #MFABypass #IdentitySecurity #DigitalWorkspace #EnterpriseSecurity #ZeroTrust #HumanElement #RCOMConsulting #Omnissa #Horizon #DataProtection #ITSecurity #BusinessContinuity ## Related posts [![](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/omnissa%20horizonis%20the%20future.png?height=200&name=omnissa%20horizonis%20the%20future.png)](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/citrix-is-in-the-past-omnissa-is-on-the-horizon) ## [Citrix is in the Past, Omnissa is on the Horizon](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/citrix-is-in-the-past-omnissa-is-on-the-horizon) ![Picture of R-Com Consulting](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/favicon.png?width=50&name=favicon.png) [R-Com Consulting](https://resources.r-comconsulting.com/r-com-consulting-limited-blog/author/r-com-consulting) Jul 24, 2025 11:41:33 AM Citrix set the standard. 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