Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed it was hit by a cyber incident last week that has forced a proactive shutdown of its IT systems, significantly disrupting both its production and retail operations. In a statement, the manufacturer said it took immediate action to contain the incident and is “working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.” It added that there is no evidence that any customer data has been stolen.
Production has been temporarily suspended at the company’s sites in Halewood, Merseyside and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. The incident is also affecting JLR’s operations in Slovakia, Brazil and India as well as multiple key suppliers.
The disruption is expected to last until October. The company said: “We continue to work around the clock to restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner following the recent cyber incident. We are working with third party cybersecurity specialists and alongside law enforcement.”
Several media outlets have linked the disruption to a hacker collective using a hybrid name of the groups Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters which has claimed responsibility for the attack, although this has not been confirmed by JLR.
The incident exposes how modern car manufacturers’ reliance on digital infrastructure makes them potentially vulnerable to operational disruptions, and the JLR incident comes at a critical time of year when the number of new vehicle registrations is at its annual peak.
Despite there being no indication of data theft, the manufacturer has notified the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office as a precaution and is also in contact with the National Cyber Security Centre. The NCSC said: “We are working with Jaguar Land Rover to provide support in relation to an incident. All organisations are urged to make use of the NCSC’s free guidance, services and tools to help reduce the chances of a cyber attack and bolster their resilience in the face of online threats.”
Image courtesy Jaguar Land Rover
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