U.S. Postal Service Should Learn From Royal Mail Cyberattack

During today’s public comment period before the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, the Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler urged the Postal Service to work more closely with foreign postal services to prevent cyberattacks. His remarks are below.

On January 10, Royal Mail, the United Kingdom’s postal service, suffered a cyberattack that is believed to have originated from Russia. This disrupted its international shipment of mail and packages for weeks, harming many businesses. It led to a grilling of Royal Mail’s CEO before Parliament.

Unfortunately, Royal Mail’s experience is not unique. Greece, South Africa, and Bulgaria are among the countries whose postal services have suffered service disruptions because of recent cyberattacks. Ukraine’s postal service faces relentless daily attacks from Russia and continues to valiantly fend them off with help from America’s tech leaders.

These incidents underscore the need for the U.S. Postal Service to have world-class cyber protection programs and for ongoing investments that will ensure this protection, while also modernizing your IT.

In addition to your close working relationships with CISA and the Department of Homeland Security, you may want to consider speaking with the posts that have been attacked, as well as the Universal Postal Union. This should help ensure that everything reasonably possible is being done to prevent an attack on the U.S. Postal Service and your customers.

Thank you.