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Royal Mail has issued a warning as it investigated a cyber attack.
The postal service has warned customers not to post items overseas after it said it was experiencing “severe disruption” to its international export services and is temporarily unable to dispatch items overseas.
However, Royal Mail did not provide any updates on Monday on when the incident is likely to be resolved and shipping would resume.
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According to reports last week, it is believed to have already left more than half a million letters and parcels stuck in limbo. This comes as the Telegraph first reported that the attack is suspected to have come from a Russian-linked ransomware gang called Lockbit.
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A Royal Mail distribution centre in Northern Ireland revealed its printers began “spurting” out copies of a ransom note on Tuesday, saying “your data are stolen and encrypted.”
Lockbit, which is believed to have close links to Russia, was also behind a major hack of car dealership Pendragon last year, which refused to pay a ransom payment of $60million.
Royal Mail would not comment on the hacking reports, but said it had launched an investigation into the incident and had reported it to its regulators and security authorities.
Royal Mail said on Monday that it wants to avoid a build-up of items to be sent overseas sitting in its sorting offices.
It said in a statement: “To support faster recovery when our service is restored and to prevent a build-up of export items in our network, we’re asking customers not to post international items until further notice.
“Items that have already been despatched may be subject to delays.”
The company has been hit by disruption in recent months, with postal workers staging walkouts in December in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions.
It has caused havoc for businesses who rely on the delivery services, with major retailers such as Moonpig, Card Factory and Asos partially blaming the strikes for a drop in sales towards the end of last year.
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