‘More than 100 Royal Mail engineers are still trying to find a work around’ after cyber attack

More than 100 Royal Mail workers are still scrambling to find a solution to the cyber attack that has wreaked havoc on the Worldwide Distribution Centre since Wednesday.

A team of engineers were trying to find a ‘work around’ after two days of chaos, The Times quoted a Royal Mail source as saying.

The hacking incident has effectively paralysed Royal Mail’s huge Worldwide Distribution Centre near Heathrow with the postal service unable to export any letters or packages.

It was revealed yesterday that a hacking gang close to Russia called Lockbit had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The gang specialises in using ransomware, a type of cyber attack that threatens to block access to or publish sensitive data unless the victim pays a ransom.

The gang’s signature software, known as Lockbit Black, scrambled computer systems on Royal Mail machines that are used to print customs documents needed to send parcels overseas. This has left outgoing post stuck in postal distribution centres.

It is understood that six Royal Mail depot sites use the affected system, including the Worldwide Distribution Centre near Heathrow.

The Times reported that a source at the Royal Mail had told them that engineers were in the process of creating a system to resume its international postal service.

‘All our efforts are looking into some kind of work around. We have more than 100 people working on it and they will be working through the weekend,’ the source said.

When the initial attack happened on Wednesday, printers reportedly began spurting out ransom demands at the Royal Mail’s Northern Ireland sorting base in Mallusk, Country Antrim. Sheets of printed paper read the groups demands and warned that data had been stolen and encrypted.

It is understood that six Royal Mail depot sites use the affected system, including the Worldwide Distribution Centre near Heathrow, pictured December 18, 2018

Staff were then invited to get in contact with the gang to decrypt one file ‘for free’ – intended to prove their claim to be behind the hack. It is not known if Royal Mail has communicated with the hackers.

Lockbit emerged in 2019 and has become one of the most prolific ransomware gangs. Lockbit’s members are estimated to have extorted £82million from other victims, which has included children’s hospitals and businesses like car dealership Pendragon. 

Royal Mail is yet to say when the cyber attack could be rectified, but it is thought that the recovery effort could take up to a week. 

External experts have been brought in to help fix the problem as well as the Government’s National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency.

Royal Mail has been approached for comment.