UK resumes post to France after cyberattack halts deliveries

A backlog of undelivered letters and parcels will now be delivered as soon as possible as the UK’s Royal Mail postal service resumes international export despatches around the world.

The backlog resulted from a cyberattack on the company last week that left the service unable to dispatch items to overseas destinations, including France.

The term ‘cyberattack’ was acknowledged by Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson to a UK parliamentary committee, as reported by tech newspaper Techcrunch, days after the company first reported about a cyber incident.

The company says in a statement that it is now making good progress in sending out items that are already in its system – and which had previously been blocked.

However it says customers may see less tracking information than usual as they work to restore usual service.

In addition it is asking that UK customers do not, for now, post any new parcels to international destinations.

International Standard and International Economy tariff letters, which do not require a customs declaration because they do not contain goods, and International Business Standard (untracked) and International Business Economy personal correspondence letters may now be posted again.

The firm states that it “continues to work with external experts, the security authorities and regulators to mitigate the impact of this cyber incident, with a focus on restoring all services for export letters and parcels”.

It adds: “Our teams are continuing to work around the clock to resolve this disruption and we would like to sincerely apologise to impacted customers.”

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