Pierluigi Paganini January 13, 2023

The cyberattack on Royal Mail, Britain’s postal service, is a ransomware attack that was linked to the LockBit ransomware operation.

Royal Mail, the British multinational postal service and courier company, this week announced that a “cyber incident” has a severe impact on its operation. The incident only impacted Royal Mail’s international export services, the company said it is temporarily unable to despatch items to overseas destinations.

The company did not provide details about the attack, it confirmed that is working around the clock to restore operations.

“[we] are working around the clock to resolve this disruption and we will update you as soon as we have more information.” reads a statement shared by the company. “Some customers may experience delay or disruption to items already shipped for export,”

The company recommends customers hold any export items while it recovers the operations.

The company said it “immediately launched an investigation into the incident” and had brought in external experts to assist.

“We are aware of an incident affecting Royal Mail Group Ltd and are working with the company, alongside the National Crime Agency, to fully understand the impact.” said a spokesperson for the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.

The British government’s National Cyber Security Center is investigating the incident along with the National Crime Agency.

While Royal Mail, The Telegraph reported that the systems of the company have been infected with an encryptor used by LockBit operation.

According to The Telegraph, the ransomware encrypted devices used for international shipping and sent the ransom notes to printers used for customs operations.

“The attack, which has paralysed the postal service’s ability to send letters and parcels abroad, was carried out by a gang called Lockbit.” reads the post published by The Telegraph.

“Sources familiar with the Royal Mail investigation said Lockbit’s ransomware, known as Lockbit Black, had infected machines used by the postal operator to print customs labels for parcels being sent to overseas destinations. The ransom note, seen by The Telegraph, says: ‘Lockbit Black Ransomware. Your data are stolen and encrypted.’

The ransomware group, as usual, threatened to publish alleged stolen data on its dark web leak site. 

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Royal Mail)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]