Jaguar Land Rover has reportedly instructed factory staff to work from home until at least next Tuesday, as the luxury carmaker grapples with the aftermath of a significant cyber attack.
Production has been halted at its key manufacturing sites, including Halewood in Merseyside, Solihull in the West Midlands, and the engine plant in Wolverhampton.
Reports indicate that production line employees have been advised not to return before September 9, with the situation remaining under review.
The disruption follows JLR's revelation on Tuesday that the cyber incident had "severely disrupted" both production and sales.
The UK car manufacturer, owned by India’s Tata Motors, shut down systems on Sunday after becoming aware of issues affecting its global operations.
It is the latest setback for JLR as it deals with the impact of US tariffs on the sector and weak consumer confidence.
The attack also comes at a crucial time for car firms, with September the month when new registration plates are released, traditionally boosting demand for new motors.
It is understood the hack is also affecting repairs to JLR’s vehicles, as dealerships and garages are unable to order new parts, while some customer handovers are also said to be impacted.
On Wednesday, a group of young hackers who targeted Marks and Spencer and other British brands reportedly claimed they were also behind the JLR attack.
The BBC reported that the gang bragged about the hack on instant messaging platform Telegram and shared screenshots purporting to be from the car manufacturer’s internal IT system.
It comes after a spate of cyber attacks across the UK retail sector earlier this year, with M&S, the Co-op and Harrods among those worst affected.
The gang made the claims on a Telegram channel which is called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, a combination of three English language speaking, hacking groups known as Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.
Scattered Spider has been blamed for the attacks on British retailers earlier this year, after which M&S stopped online sales for around six weeks and warned that the incident could cost it around £300 million.
Four young people were arrested for their suspected involvement in the April attacks and have been subsequently bailed.
JLR said earlier this week it was “working at pace” to restart its operations across retail and production sites.
The company stressed there was “no evidence” that any customer data has been stolen in the attack.
