Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack shutdown to hit four weeks

Jaguar Land Rover is extending the closure of its factories until October 1 following a cyberattack in early September that has left its operations paralysed and smaller suppliers struggling.

The luxury carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors, has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day. The company is losing 50 million pounds (€63 million) a week, according to the BBC, with many of its 33,000 staff told to stay at home.

The breach highlights the vulnerability of global businesses and government departments to increasingly sophisticated and more frequent cyber and ransom attacks, affecting sectors from healthcare and defence to finance and retail. No details have been released about who might be behind the attack on JLR.

The automaker failed to finalise a cyber insurance deal brokered by Lockton ahead of the incident, and appears to be uninsured directly for the attack, three senior cyber insurance market sources told The Insurer. JLR declined to comment.

UK business minister Peter Kyle is due to visit JLR later on Tuesday and talk to companies in its supply chain about how the government can help.

“We have two priorities – helping Jaguar Land Rover get back up and running as soon as possible and the long-term health of the supply chain,” said Chris McDonald, minister for industry, who will also attend the meetings later.

As well as wanting to keep the supply chain intact and save jobs, the government - which has set out plans to ban public sector bodies and critical national infrastructure operators from paying ransom demands - will be conscious of the hit to the economy from the shutdowns.

S&P Global’s survey of the UK manufacturing sector on Tuesday showed a downturn in output, with some factories saying JLR’s shutdown impacted activity in the automotive supply chain.

Over the weekend, a ransomware attack on a company that facilitates airport check-in left passengers stranded across major European airports, with experts saying cybercriminals are taking greater risks by hitting high-profile targets to get bigger payoffs and boost their online reputation.

In Britain, just over four in ten businesses reported experiencing some form of breach over a 12-month period, according to official data published in June. Household names including Marks & Spencer and Co-op have fallen victim in recent months.

JLR said on Tuesday it was preparing plans to resume production even as it extended the pause.

“We have made this decision to give clarity for the coming week as we build the timeline for the phased restart of our operations and continue our investigation,” JLR said.

JLR, which makes the Range Rover and Defender models, said its production supported 104,000 jobs in supply chains across the country. The Unite trade union has warned of job losses and called for government support to keep companies solvent. --Reuters