Royal Mail hit by Cyber Attack ?

[FairyFoot]

Does anyone know if International Standard items sent without a Customs Barcode / CN22 / CN23 (i.e. letters, cards, postcards) are affected or not by this?

I think it could be everything..

So how does international mail work? Does RM have to inform an international postal authority, e.g. USPS that it has X number of mailbags.... heading on flight no Blah123. to San Francisco, and Australia Post about Y number of mailbags on flight no Blah321 to Sydney?

[Snaggletooth]

Seems to be widely reported now as an attack by Russian hackers, presumably they are threatening to release the data and this put will RM in breach of security /in some legal jeopardy and that's why they have to pay the ransom?
But why can't they secure their systems, why are we still being prevented from sending mail overseas?

RM are in breach of Data Protection as soon as the hackers get in to the system.

UK government policy is to not pay a ransom, ever, as it only encourages the hackers. If the ransom is not paid then RM could still be locked out of the system. And if they can’t guarantee the security of the mail then moving it might be a breech of their licence.

As for “why can’t you they secure their systems”, this happens occasionally even to big tech companies. There is no known totally secure system. If you have one then, congratulations, that knowledge can make you a billionaire.

[Nildesperandum]

I might as well just declare myself out of business then, this is national infrastructure and it's just..... fallen over
I was just getting back on my feet after the postal strikes now I'm about to fall on my face
I don't blame the posties they are all great people, but royal mail used to be like a rock always dependable
(I'm sorry if I'm being melodramatic but it's very upsetting)

[Eduardo]

Well we are kind of at war with Russia.
We are supplying their enemy with weapons used to kill Russian soldiers so we are now a target of a Russian attack.

I hope this incident is viewed as a political as well as financial attack on the nations largest carrier and as an attack on our nations critical infrastructure because the government might give RM a bit of financial support in sorting this problem out.

How much these cyber criminals are sanctioned by the Russian State is an unknown.

[simmo11]

The lack of official updates from Royal Mail is appalling.

Critical national infrastructure has been impacted, along with key services important to the economy.

The regulator should be obligating Royal Mail to provide regular updates at set intervals.

Once more we reap the benefits of privatization.

[BenacreNick]

I wouldn't worry too much Simmo as the situation is clearly beyond our control.

I'm sure there are trained people in place to deal with incidents such as this.

[PeterR]

Since government agencies are involved, why is there no official government response? I see Royal Mail are appearing before a Select Committee this week, but that is not the same as government.

Why are Royal Mail refusing to comment as to whether there has been a ransomware attack?

[clashcityrocker]

Why are Royal Mail refusing to comment as to whether there has been a ransomware attack?

Maybe part of the demands were they don't make a public comment?
Maybe they are under instructions from the investigating authorities not to comment?

[Nildesperandum]

it just gets stranger & stranger
and in the meantime small businesses are dropping like flies

[simmo11]

Why are Royal Mail refusing to comment as to whether there has been a ransomware attack?

Maybe part of the demands were they don't make a public comment?
Maybe they are under instructions from the investigating authorities not to comment?

That or gotta protect the share price...

[passengerpigeon]

For those who didn't see the Select Committee this morning, CEO only stated, regarding the cyber attack, that 'in the very near future we'll have some information for customers'.

That's it.

[simmo11]

Disgraceful.

Only interested in the share price, no notion of service.

[Lounge Lizard]

Just wondering if anyone has any information regarding this and what the genuine implications this will have to customers who have mail going to other countries. I posted around 15 things this week to the US, on top of strike action and now this it’s like the worst luck imaginable.
I do have a feeling however that because of strike action that this may be a deflection tactic to get back on track and stop people sending mail internationally so they can catch up

The company certainly has a petty and spiteful working culture but normally the answer is gross incompetence. The chief executive was in charge of the test and trace farce so he has previous in messing up large scale IT infrastructure.

I think all international mail requires automation to be processed at its mail centre to get it onto its airplanes etc and is a process that cannot be replaced with a pen and paper too easily

Is that ALL international mail or only the tracked, signed for and registered ?