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British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced that it is beginning to restore its manufacturing operations after weeks of delays.
The car manufacturer, owned by Tata Motors in India, revealed that it had suffered a cyber attack at the beginning of September, announcing that it had shut down its systems to prevent further damage.
“JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident. We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems,” Jaguar Land Rover said in an undated statement on its corporate website.
The company announced that it had restored a handful of digital systems last month, but had not mentioned manufacturing or factory operations resuming, having extended the deadline for them to return several times.
However, on 29 September, JLR announced that it would begin restoring its manufacturing within days.
“As the controlled, phased restart of our operations continues, we are taking further steps towards our recovery and the return to manufacture of our world‑class vehicles,” the company said.
“Today we are informing colleagues, retailers and suppliers that some sections of our manufacturing operations will resume in the coming days.”
The company originally told staff at its manufacturing plants in Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Halewood on Merseyside to stay home until 9 September, with their hours being banked to be picked up later, while their pay remains normal.
However, the stay-home order was extended multiple times, even past its most recent deadline of 24 September.
In its latest update, the company did not specify exactly when manufacturing would continue, nor did it say in what capacity.
According to the BBC, JLR is suffering losses of roughly £50 million a week.
While the company originally said there was no sign that any data had been stolen by the threat actors, it has since confirmed that data was compromised. It did not provide details as to what data had been impacted.
The cyber attack was claimed by the Scattered Spider hacking collective, after the hackers taunted the company on Telegram.
“Where is my new car, Land Rover,” they said.
It is believed that the hackers are blackmailing the manufacturer for money; however, the specifics of the breach are still unclear.
However, to assist the car manufacturer with its recovery, the UK government granted Jaguar JLR a £1.5 billion safety loan to keep it afloat as it deals with the fallout of its cyber attack, which the government said is crucial in keeping an iconic British institution alive.
“This cyber attack was not only an assault on an iconic British brand, but on our world-leading automotive sector and the men and women whose livelihoods depend on it,” said Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle.
The loan, which is to be repaid over five years, will be privately sourced from a commercial bank, but will be underwritten using government funds via the Export Development Guarantee.
“Jaguar Land Rover is an iconic British company which employs tens of thousands of people – a jewel in the crown of our economy,” said Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.
“Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to £1.5 billion in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry.”
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