Yodel Cyber Incident Disrupts UK Deliveries

Logistics giant Yodel has confirmed it is experiencing a cyber “incident” which is causing service disruption.

The UK delivery company posted an update to its site saying: “We are working to restore our operations as quickly as possible but for now, order tracking remains unavailable and parcels may arrive later than expected.”

Although the firm doesn’t hold any customer payment information, it is currently investigating whether any other personally identifiable information (PII) has been taken.

The customer names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers most delivery companies store would be a useful trove for would-be fraudsters, who could use it to craft follow-on phishing emails.

“As always, Yodel encourages you to be alert to any unsolicited and unexpected communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information. Avoid responding to, clicking on links, or downloading attachments from suspicious email addresses,” the firm said.

“If you are asked for personal information by someone purporting to be Yodel employee, please let us know immediately.”

Smishing texts using fake delivery updates as a lure accounted for over 50% of such messages last year as SMS phishing volumes almost doubled from the previous 12 months, according to Proofpoint.

Although Yodel has yet to confirm the nature of the attack, ransomware would be the prime suspect, given the operational disruption the firm is suffering.

Noted security researcher Kevin Beaumont confirmed as much in a brief Twitter post.

The delivery firm has apparently contacted the National Crime Agency (NCA), data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

The NCSC CEO, Lindy Cameron, has repeatedly described ransomware as the number one threat facing UK businesses.