Royal Mail cyber attack had “minimal impact” on Jersey

Friday 13 January 2023

The knock-on impact of a major cyber attack against the Royal Mail on local services was “minimal”, according to Jersey Post.

The digital attack left the national service "temporarily unable to send letters and parcels overseas.

There were also reported delays to post going into the UK, though domestic deliveries were said to be unaffected.

Jersey Post said there was "minimal impact on our international services", adding: "...We are working with our other international partners to ensure destinations that are affected can still be reached."

The postal service provider said this "does not affect our Jersey and UK inbound and outbound networks, and FedEx services remain unaffected."

Guernsey Post said yesterday that some local services had been affected by the UK situation. It said it would be unable to send any international mail, including to Ireland, off-island until further notice.

The BBC reported that it was believed the Royal Mail incident was a Russia-linked ransomware attack. 

Such incidents usually involve an attacker preventing their target from accessing its own digital information before offering to return it – at a cost.

If a victim does not comply with the request, hackers sometimes threaten to delete the data or corrupt systems.

De La Salle school was hit by a ransomware attack over the festive period, with hackers demanding what Express understands to have been a substantial ransom. However, working with Jersey's Cyber Emergency Response Team, the incident was resolved.

LISTEN...

CERT Director Matt Palmer spoke to Express about resolving the major attack on De La Salle, and the persistent threat of Russian cyber warfare, on the latest episode of the Bailiwick Podcast…