Jaguar and Land Rover are facing a significant crisis, with their global production lines idled for over two weeks following a cyberattack. The attack, which occurred on September 1st, has crippled the carmaker’s operations, impacting production, parts ordering, and retail functions. Financial losses are mounting, estimated at Rs 60 crore per day. The initial disruption affected dealerships, preventing them from booking new vehicle orders. The company subsequently shut down its systems to contain the breach. The hacker group Scattered Lapsus$ has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, which has targeted JLR. The same group has been linked to an earlier attack on the Marks and Spencer retail chain.
JLR is working on restoring its systems, but the timeline for a full recovery is unclear. Production is not expected to resume before September 24th. Customer data was compromised in the breach, leading to investigations by the police and cybersecurity experts. The production halt has severely disrupted JLR’s supply chain, potentially driving some suppliers into bankruptcy. Aston Martin’s CEO has cautioned that layoffs are imminent or planned. Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the third-party SAP NetWeaver software used for internal operations. The extent of the data breach and whether a ransom was demanded are currently unknown.