Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is continuing to experience severe disruption from a cyber-attack which began last Sunday.
The company said earlier this week that its manufacturing and retail operations had been severely disrupted by the attack and it was shutting down online systems that could be impacted.
The cyber-attack was reportedly carried out by the same group that caused UK retailer Marks & Spencer to suspend online retail operations - for many weeks - earlier this year.
Media reports say that workers at JLR plants in Halewood and Solihull, as well as an engine manufacturing site in Wolverhampton, have been told to stay away until Tuesday 9 September.
The UK Government is also supporting JLR's efforts to combat the attack. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, said in a statement: “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.”
The cyber-attack on JLR started on Sunday 31 August, ahead of the start of September which sees the change to new year-identifier numbers on the standard issue registration plates of new cars sold in the UK. It’s a major marketing and promotional opportunity for manufacturers in the UK with a higher proportion of annual sales in those two months of the year (March and September) when the registration plates change with the new standard numbers.
GlobalData analyst Justin Cox told Just Auto: "It is worrying, not just because of the cyber-attack itself - on the face of it a sign of vulnerabilities in cyber defences that need to be addressed urgently - but for the uncertainties that result, not least on how long the disruption to production lines will last.
"The longer the disruption goes on, the more damaging it will be for JLR and for its dealers and suppliers up and down the supply and value chains - not just in the UK, but across the world."
