Royal Mail struggles with export logjam as fallout from cyber attack continues

Royal Mail said it had begun moving “limited volumes of export parcels” more than a week after its services were crippled by a cyber security attack.

The company said it was trialling operational workarounds and its initial focus was to clear the backlog created when it became the latest victim of a ransomware attack on 11 January.

It called on customers not to submit any new export parcels while it tackled the logjam.

Royal Mail added that it continued to work with external experts, security authorities and regulators to mitigate the impact of the incident: “Our import operations continue to perform a full service with some minor delays,” it said in a statement.

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“Domestic services remain unaffected.

“We apologise to impacted customers for any disruption this incident may be causing. Please be assured our teams are working around the clock to fully resolve this situation.”

The company has not confirmed that the cyber attack was carried out by Russia-linked gang Lockbit, which is alleged to have hacked label machines at Royal Mail facilities and printed ransom notes reading: “Your data are stolen and encrypted.”

Following the attack, a spokesman for the National Cyber Security Centre said: “We are aware of an incident affecting Royal Mail and are working with the company, alongside the National Crime Agency, to fully understand the impact.”