What We Learned from The Royal Mail Ransomware Chat

By Dave Cartwright, CISSP In February 2023, something very unusual happened. Following a ransomware attack on Royal Mail International, a division of the U.K.’s (formerly state-owned) mail and parcel delivery service, the negotiation between the firm’s representatives and the LockBit ransomware attackers made it into the public domain. As reported in January 2023, Royal Mail engaged with the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and part of the resulting activity was to negotiate with representatives of LockBit – without much success. The first thing of note is that the chat covers a time period of…