Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is extending the closure of its factories until October 1 following a cy
berattack in early September that has left its operations paralyzed and smaller suppliers struggling.
The luxury carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors, has three factories in Britain, which together produce a
bout 1,000 cars per day. The company is losing 50 million pounds ($
68 million) a week, according to the BBC, with many of its 33,000 staff told to stay at home.
The breach highlights the vulnerability of global businesses and government departments to increasingly sophi
sticated and more frequent cyber and ransom attacks, affecting sectors from healthcare and defense to finance and re
tail. No details have been released about who might be behind the attack on JLR.
Worries Over Insurance
The automaker failed to finalize a cyber insurance deal brokered by Lockton ahead of the incident, and appears to be u
ninsured directly for the attack, three senior cyber insurance market sources told The Insurer. JLR declined to comment.
British business minister Peter Kyle and industry minister Chris McDonald visited JLR on Tuesday and talked to the CE
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O and senior executives about the impacts of the attack and how the company can work towards restarting production.
Read more: Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack Fallout Spreads to Suppliers
“We have two priorities – helping Jaguar Land Rover get back up a
nd running as soon as possible and the long-term health of the supply chain,” said McDonald.
Kyle said “getting JLR back online as soon as possible” was his top priority, adding the government was do
ing everything it could to minimize the impact of the incident.
As well as wanting to keep the supply chain intact and save jobs, the government – which has set out plans to ban publi
c sector bodies and critical national infrastructure operators from paying r
ansom demands – will be conscious of the hit to the economy from the shutdowns.
S&P Global’s survey of the UK manufacturing sector on Tuesday showed a downturn in output, with some factories
saying JLR’s shutdown impacted activity in the automotive supply chain.
High-Profile Cyber Attacks
Over the weekend, a ransomware attack on a company that facilitates airport check-in left passengers stranded
saying cybercriminals are taking greater risks by hitting high-profile targets to get bigger payoffs and boost their online reputation.
In Britain, just over four in ten businesses reported experiencing some form of breach over a 12-month period, accordin
g to official data published in June. Household names including Marks & Spencer and Co-op have fallen victim in recent months.
JLR said on Tuesday it was preparing plans to resume production e