Jaguar Land Rover has extended its shutdown on car production, as Britain’s biggest carmaker grapples with the aftermath of a cyber-attack.
JLR said on Tuesday it will freeze production until at least next Wednesday, 24 September, as it continues its investigations into the hack, which first emerged earlier this month.
The manufacturer said: “We have taken this decision as our forensic investigation of the cyber incident continues, and as we consider the different stages of the controlled restart of our global operations, which will take time.
“We are very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is causing and we will continue to update as the investigation progresses.”
JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata group, stopped production at its sites after discovering hackers had infiltrated its systems a few weeks ago.
The company has since found the attack has affected “some data”, although it said that it could not provide more details of which data was affected, or if customers’ or suppliers’ information was stolen, but that it would contact anyone affected.
The costs of the cyber-attack are likely building for JLR, as production at its factories in the Midlands and Merseyside are put on hold. Other production facilities around the world have also been affected, fuelling speculation that it could be weeks until systems are operational.
The freeze has also affected suppliers and retailers for JLR, with some operating without computer systems and databases normally used for sourcing spare parts for garages or registering vehicles.
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Last week, the Unite union warned that thousands of workers in the JLR supply chain are at risk of losing their livelihoods, and urged the government to step in with a furlough scheme to support them.
A group of hackers, linked to other serious hacks this year on retailers including M&S, have claimed responsibility for the attack on JLR. Screenshots which are allegedly of JLR’s internal IT systems were posted on a Telegram channel that combined the names of groups of hackers known as Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.