JLR slowly resumes production after cyberattack cripples UK plants
What's the story
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the luxury carmaker owned by India's Tata Motors, is slowly resuming its manufacturing operations after a cyberattack earlier this month. The company has three factories in Britain that together produce around 1,000 cars per day. However, due to the attack, JLR has been losing £50 million ($68 million) weekly, and many of its 33,000 employees have been asked to stay at home.
Information
Cyberattack on JLR
The cyberattack on JLR highlights the growing threat of sophisticated and frequent cyber and ransom attacks, which have affected multiple sectors globally, including healthcare, defense, finance, and retail. However, details about the perpetrators behind the JLR attack are still unknown.
Insurance issues
JLR's cyber insurance deal not finalized before attack
According to three senior cyber insurance market sources, JLR had not finalized a cyber insurance deal with Lockton before the attack. This means the company may not be directly insured for the incident. In response to this situation, British business minister Peter Kyle and industry minister Chris McDonald visited JLR on Tuesday to discuss the impact of the attack and how production can be restarted.
Economic consequences
Impact on UK manufacturing sector and call for government support
JLR, which makes the Range Rover and Defender models, has said its production supports 104,000 jobs in supply chains across Britain. The Unite trade union has warned of possible job losses due to this incident and called for government support to keep companies solvent. A survey by S&P Global showed a downturn in output in the UK manufacturing sector with some factories saying JLR's shutdown impacted activity in the automotive supply chain.