Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed that a cyber-attack has "severely disrupted" its vehicle production as well as retail operations. The incident prompted an immediate response from the company in order to minimize the impact.
Owned by India's Tata Motors, JLR took swift action by proactively shutting down IT systems after detecting the attack while it was in progress. This step was crucial to prevent further damage.
Employees at JLR's Halewood plant in Merseyside were informed early Monday morning via email not to attend work, with others sent home, marking a significant disruption to the company’s operations.
According to the company, there is no evidence at this stage that any customer data has been stolen.
The attack began on Sunday and has come at an important period for UK car sales, coinciding with the release of the latest batch of new registration plates on 1st September—a time traditionally popular for new vehicle deliveries.
JLR stated: "We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner. At this stage there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted."
This incident adds to the challenges faced by the firm, which recently reported a slump in profits attributed to increasing costs linked to US tariffs.
Cyber attacks against major UK companies have increased recently, with similar extortion-style attacks reported against retailers such as the Co-op and Marks and Spencer.
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