Russian hackers release Royal Mail data on dark web

Russian hackers have reportedly stolen 44 gigabytes of data from Royal Mail and uploaded it on the dark web on Thursday.

The LockBit gang, which carried out the crime, had asked for a $40m (£33m) ransom from the Royal Mail. The ransomware group stole the data last month and said that it released the data after the postal company rejected its demands.

"Last chance to prevent leaks or Royal Information. We are ready to make a discount, remove the stolen information and provide a decryptor for 40 million dollars. There will be more delays, after the timer expires all the data will be released," FalconFeedsio quoted the gang as saying.

FaclonFeedsio is a Twitter account that publishes data sourced through the Dark Web about cyberattacks. Meanwhile, Royal Mail has claimed that "no sensitive customer information" has been stolen.

"At this stage of the investigation, we believe that the vast majority of this data is made up of technical program files and administrative business data. All of the evidence suggests that this data contains no financial information or other sensitive customer information," read a statement by the company.

According to a report in The Guardian, the Royal Mail has negotiated for weeks with the hackers to salvage the situation, but to no avail. A screenshot of the conversation released by LockBit shows how negotiators tried to reason with the hackers, informing them of the company's finances.

"All we have had is losses… here are several articles on Google about our financial situation and how bad it is currently," the Royal Mail negotiator told LockBit after the latter asked the company to estimate its revenue.

The hackers responded by saying that they would release the data if the company did not listen to their demands, but the Royal Mail did not budge and refused to pay the ransom.

The company has now resumed sending out international parcel and letter deliveries through Post Office branches. It took about six weeks to restart deliveries after it was revealed that hackers had stolen the company's data.

Last year, the company said that it would need to cut up to 10,000 jobs by August 2023 as it looks to restructure and focus on the parcel delivery sector. It further stated that it is losing £1 million a day as letter volumes continue to decline.