Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has suffered a major cyber-attack that has severely disrupted vehicle production at its two main UK plants, the company confirmed.
The luxury carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors, said it took immediate steps to contain the hack and is now working to restore operations. Its retail business has also been badly affected during what is typically a busy period for new vehicle deliveries.
However, the company stressed there is currently no evidence of customer data being compromised.
The attack began on Sunday, coinciding with the release of the latest batch of new registration plates on 1 September.
According to BBC reporting, the intrusion was detected in progress and JLR responded by shutting down its IT systems to limit the damage.
At the Halewood plant in Merseyside, workers were instructed by email early Monday not to report to work, with some sent home after arriving, the Liverpool Echo first reported.
The disruption has also affected JLR’s Solihull facility, where staff were similarly told to leave.
In a statement, the company said: “We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems. We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.”
The firm acknowledged that production and retail activities have been “severely disrupted”, while reiterating that no customer data appears to have been stolen.
Although JLR’s own statement did not explicitly refer to a cyber-attack, a filing by parent company Tata Motors to the Bombay Stock Exchange described the incident as an “IT security incidence” with global consequences.
The UK’s National Crime Agency confirmed it is aware of the incident and is working with partners to assess its impact. The attack comes in the wake of similar crippling cyber incidents targeting UK retailers including Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, both involving attempted extortion.
In 2023, JLR signed a five-year £800m agreement with Tata Consultancy Services to provide IT and cybersecurity support as part of its wider digital transformation strategy.
The production stoppage adds to the company’s recent challenges, after it reported a slump in profits linked to rising costs from US tariffs.
Source: BBC
Total views: 377
