Jaguar Land Rover shutdown extended after cyber attack

The halt to production at Jaguar Land Rover has been extended again as it grapples the impact of a cyber attack, with a trade union demanding a COVID-style furlough scheme for workers affected in the supply chain.

There have so far been 12 days of costly inactivity as attempts to recover vital systems continue.

Earlier this week, Monday had been slated as a possible day for manufacturing to restart but that has now been put back until Wednesday at least.

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The disruption is not only affecting output at JLR's factories but its supply chain too, with thousands of jobs threatened.

An influential committee of MPs revealed on Thursday it was seeking financial support for the company's suppliers.

The business and trade committee wrote to the chancellor, asking her what is being offered to the carmaker's third party clients "to mitigate the risk of significant, long-term commercial damage to affected firms".

The latest announcement means the 34,000 UK JLR workers will now remain at home until at least next week.

Staff are still being paid from JLR sites in Halewood, Merseyside, and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, but the entire economy around the West Midlands is affected.

JLR suppliers Evtec, WHS Plastics, SurTec and OPmobility have had to temporarily lay off roughly 6,000 staff.

Operations could be disrupted for "most of September" or worse, according to a report from The Sunday Times.

Business and Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, saying: "Firms across the supply chain are now warning the committee of disruption to both upstream and downstream businesses.

"This disruption, we are told, may imminently pose very significant risks to cashflow."

Intervention, akin to the emergency steps taken to secure British Steel production, is suggested by Mr Byrne to "protect sovereign areas of strength in the UK's industrial, scientific and technological base".

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The government needs to defend jobs when our industries are under attack.

"Many UK workers in small and medium automotive manufacturers are already facing insecurity because of the low volume crisis in the sector. Thousands of these workers in the JLR supply chain now find their jobs are under an immediate threat because of the cyber-attack.

“Ministers need to act fast and introduce a furlough scheme to ensure that vital jobs and skills are not lost while JLR and its supply chain get back on their feet."

A group of English-speaking hackers claimed responsibility for the JLR attack via a Telegram platform called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, an amalgamation of the names of hacking groups Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.

Scattered Spider, a loose group of relatively young hackers, were behind the Co-Op, Harrods and M&S attacks.

Four people were arrested for suspected involvement in the April attacks and have been bailed.

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