LockBit threatens Royal Mail with ransomware threat

The UK's Royal Mail is facing a threat from the LockBit, according to information published on a website, at the time when the British postal and parcel firm is grappling with the fallout of a cyber incident from last month.

A screenshot of the group's blog on dark web on darkfeed.io showed that LockBit would publish stolen data on February 9 if Royal Mail didn't pay a ransom, a screenshot from a website that tracks ransomware groups.

In an emailed response to Reuters, Royal Mail said that the data from its network did not contain any financial information or other sensitive customer information, and that the group had added to LockBit's dark web leak site this week.

LockBit was behind a ransomware attack that hit ION Trading UK recently.

Ransomware is a form of malicious software deployed by criminal gangs that is used to encrypt data, with hackers offering the victim a key in exchange for payments. The ransom demands can be millions of dollars.

Separately, Royal Mail said on its website that the disruptions to its international services were continuing due to the cyber incident and only some of the services have been restored.

Royal Mail said its import operations continued to perform fully with some minor delays, and that it was working to reinstate the remaining export services.

On January 11th, the company reported that its international export services were severely disrupted by a cyber incident.