Royal Mail hit by "cyber incident"

Royal Mail has asked the public not to send mail abroad due to a "cyber incident", which is causing disruption.

According to the BBC, Royal Mail is calling it a "cyber incident" rather than an attack, because they do not know what has caused the problem. The incident has been reported to the cyber intelligence agency and police who deal with serious crime.

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ and the National Crime Agency are investigating.

Royal Mail is still experiencing severe disruption to international export services today, following the incident yesterday. The service is unable to despatch items to overseas destinations and senders are asked to hold on to any export mail items while the issue is resolved. Items that have already been despatched may also face delays.

The incident has affected a back office system which is used to prepare mail for despatch abroad, as well as track and trace overseas items. The system is in place at six sites including the Heathrow distribution centre in Slough.

Royal Mail said: "Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this disruption and we will update you as soon as we have more information. We immediately launched an investigation into the incident and we are working with external experts. We have reported the incident to our regulators and the relevant security authorities."

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