M&S Cyber Breach: TCS Cleared, Investigation Continues

Mumbai, Jun 19 (PTI) TCS on Thursday said Marks & Spencer is investigating the incident of a cyber breach earlier this year, and made it clear that the country's largest IT services company is outside the purview of the probe.

Addressing shareholder queries at the company's annual general meeting, its independent director Keki Mistry, who was presiding as the chairman, said no TCS systems were compromised and none of its other customers were impacted.

"'This incident is currently under review and investigation by the customer," Mistry said, referring to the incident which had forced the British retailer to close its online business for over three weeks and is estimated to dent the operating profit by GBP 300 million.

"The purview of the investigation does not include TCS," Mistry added.

As no TCS systems or users were compromised, none of the company's other customers have been impacted, he said, adding that the company has followed the laid out procedure and continues to provide support for ensuring full recovery of the systems and business.

It can be noted that a few reports in May suggested that TCS, which has been serving M&S for over a decade, is investigating whether it was the entry point for a cyberattack on a UK retailer.

As per a media report, the incident is deemed to be caused by a human error at a third-party vendor serving the retailer.

Meanwhile, Mistry, who was filling in for Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, who was held up due to exigencies, also said that TCS sees Generative artificial intelligence performing some of the tasks done by humans autonomously but refrained from specifying its impact on the overall jobs.

"Gen AI is delivering multiple productivity improvements across multiple areas such as coding, testing marketing and product design, content generation and customer service. Recent advancements, such as reasoning capabilities, and agentic AI are expected to result in higher levels of automation," he noted.

Acknowledging heightened volatility across markets and industries due to the ongoing conflicts and economic uncertainties all over the world, he said TCS is focusing on staying close to its customers and helping them navigate this "extremely challenging environment".

Mistry said the company's order book continues to be healthy and investments in AI are gaining excellent traction with clients as well.

Replying to a query on India's digital sovereignty, Mistry said India is an extremely important geography for the company and it continues to build indigenous technologies that will "directly address" the needs of governments and enterprises.

He said the company receives around 6 whistleblower complaints per month, and each case is taken seriously.

The company does not see any impact of the data privacy mandates, which are coming up, he said.

It is also undertaking "calibrated investments" in the promising technology of quantum computing, Mistry said.