Royal Mail ‘Cyber Incident’ Hits UK Postal Service

Royal Mail halts international shipments due to cyber incident; urges.

Although domestic deliveries are unaffected, the company reported that there were slight delays in delivery into the UK. Because Royal Mail is unsure of what caused the problem, it is believed to be referring to it as a “cyber incident” rather than an attack.

The company apologized, stated that employees were “working around the clock to remedy this inconvenience,” and promised to keep customers informed as soon as new details were available.

It claimed that it “severely disrupted” its computerized systems for sending mail and packages overseas.

“We immediately initiated an inquiry into the cyber incident,” a spokeswoman said. “We are collaborating with other specialists.” The National Cyber Security Centre, a division of the UK’s GCHQ cyber intelligence agency, is reportedly helping to figure out what happened.

The event has also been reported to regulators.

Royal Mail shipped 152 million parcels overseas in the year ending in March, or almost 200,000 packages every day.

That, however, represented a very small portion of the domestic parcels it sent.

A variety of difficulties have been faced by Royal Mail over the past year, including a number of postal worker strikes related to a protracted disagreement over pay and working conditions.

More industrial action is being planned by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents more than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail. A new ballot will be available later this month.