Jaguar Land Rover factory closures after cyber attack extended to 1 October

Britain's largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), faces a prolonged shutdown of its planetary operations aft the institution announced an hold of the existent closure, which began connected 31 August, to astatine slightest 1 October.

The hold volition outgo JLR tens of millions of pounds a time successful mislaid revenue, rise large concerns astir companies and jobs successful the proviso chain, and rise questions astir the vulnerability of UK manufacture to cyber assaults.

A spokesperson said of the move: "We person made this determination to springiness clarity for the coming week arsenic we physique the timeline for the phased restart of our operations and proceed our investigation.

Money latest: I was charged £885 for airdrome parking error

"Our teams proceed to enactment astir the timepiece alongside cybersecurity specialists, the NCSC and instrumentality enforcement to guarantee we restart successful a harmless and unafraid manner.

"Our absorption remains connected supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and our retailers who stay open. We afloat recognise this is simply a hard clip for each connected with JLR and we convey everyone for their continued enactment and patience."

More than 33,000 radical enactment straight for JLR successful the UK, galore of them employed connected assembly lines successful the West Midlands, the largest of which is successful Solihull, and a works astatine Halewood connected Merseyside.

An estimated 200,000 much are employed by respective 100 companies successful the proviso chain, who look a prolonged interruption to commercialized with what for galore volition beryllium their largest client.

The "just-in-time" quality of automotive accumulation means that galore had small prime but to unopen down instantly aft JLR announced its closure, and nary inducement to resume until it is wide erstwhile it volition beryllium backmost successful production.

Industry sources estimation that astir 25% of suppliers person already taken steps to intermission accumulation and laic disconnected workers, galore of them by "banking hours" they volition person to enactment successful future.

Read more:
More than a 4th of cars sold successful August were electrical vehicles
FCA considers compensation strategy for car concern ungraded - raising payout hopes

Another 4th are expected to marque decisions this week, pursuing JLR's erstwhile announcement that accumulation would beryllium paused until astatine slightest Wednesday.

JLR, which produces the Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover marques, has besides been forced to halt accumulation and assembly astatine facilities successful China, Slovakia, India and Brazil aft its IT systems were efficaciously disabled by the cyber attack.

JLR's Solihull works has been moving abbreviated shifts with skeleton staff, with immoderate teams understood to beryllium carrying retired basal attraction portion the accumulation lines basal idle, including coating floors.

Among workers who had finished a half-shift past Friday, determination was resignation to the uncertainty. "We person been told not to speech astir it, and adjacent if we could, we don't cognize what's happening," said one.

Calls for support

The authorities has faced calls from unions to present a furlough-style strategy to support jobs successful the proviso chain, but with JLR generating profits of £2.2bn past year, the institution volition look unit to enactment its suppliers.

Industry assemblage the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said portion authorities enactment should beryllium the past resort, it should not beryllium disconnected the table.

"Whatever happens to JLR volition reverberate done the proviso chain," main enforcement Mike Hawes told Sky News.

"There are a immense fig of suppliers successful the UK, a substance of ample multinationals, but besides a batch of tiny and medium-sized enterprises, and those are the ones who are astir astatine risk. Some of them, possibly up to a quarter, person already had to laic disconnected people. There'll beryllium different further 20-25% considering that successful the adjacent fewer days and weeks.

"It's a precise precocious barroom for the authorities to intervene, but without the proviso chain, you don't person the large manufacturers and you don't person an industry."

What happened to the IT system?

JLR, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, has provided nary item of the quality of the attack, but it is presumed to beryllium a ransomware battle akin to that which debilitated Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op earlier this year.

As good arsenic interrupting conveyance production, dealers person been incapable to registry vehicles oregon bid spare parts, and adjacent diagnostic bundle for analysing idiosyncratic vehicles has been affected.

Last week, it said it was conducting a "forensic" probe and considering however to signifier the "controlled restart" of planetary production.

Speculation has centred connected the vulnerability of IT enactment desks to surreptitious enactment from hackers posing arsenic employees to entree passwords, arsenic good arsenic 'phishing' oregon different integer means of accessing systems.

In September 2023, JLR outsourced its IT and integer services to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), besides a Tata-owned company, intended, it said, to "transform, simplify, and assistance negociate its integer estate, and physique a caller future-ready, strategical exertion architecture".

Resilience risks

Three months earlier, TCS extended an existing statement with M&S, saying it would "improve resilience and gait of innovation, and thrust sustainable growth."

Officials from the National Cyber Security Centre are thought to beryllium assisting JLR with their investigations, portion officials and ministers from the Department for Business and International Trade person been kept informed of the situation.

Liam Byrne, a Birmingham MP and seat of the Business and Trade Select Committee, said the JLR closure raises concerns astir the resilience of UK business.

"British concern is present overmuch much susceptible for 2 reasons. One, galore of these cyber threats person got atrocious states down them. Russia, North Korea, Iran. These are superior players.

"Second, the onslaught aboveground that concern is exposed to is present overmuch bigger, due to the fact that their integer operations are overmuch bigger. They'll beryllium planetary organisations. They mightiness person their IT outsourced successful different country. So the vulnerability is present overmuch greater than successful the past."