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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is still grappling with the fallout from a cyberattack that struck its systems over a week ago, with UK production facilities now slated to remain closed until at least Wednesday. The attack has impacted car plants at Halewood and Solihull, its Wolverhampton engine facility, and additional production sites in Slovakia, China, and India, forcing a widespread operational shutdown.
Staff who work on the production lines have been told to remain at home.
JLR shut down its IT systems in response to the attack on 31 August, in order to protect them from damage. However, this caused major disruption.
JLR says it is working around the clock to restart its networks in a controlled and safe manner, and is liaising with third party cyber security specialists and law enforcement.
Last Thursday, JLR instructed staff to stay at home until at least Tuesday as it continued to grapple with the fallout from the cyber attack.
Under normal circumstances, the company builds about 1,000 cars a day. The production stoppage has had a significant impact on the company's suppliers, with some understood to have told their own staff not to come into work.
As well as forcing the factories to stop building cars, it also left dealerships unable to register new cars and garages that maintain JLR vehicles unable to order the parts they needed – although it is understood workarounds have since been put in place.
The attack began at what is traditionally a popular time for consumers to take delivery of new vehicles. The latest batch of new registration plates became available on Monday, 1 September.
A group of young hackers who have been behind other attacks on UK businesses including M&S earlier this year have also claimed responsibility for the JLR attack.
Within days of the attack, the group of English-speaking hackers bragged about it on messaging app Telegram.
One security expert speculated that screenshots shared by the suggested the criminals gained access to information they should not have.
