Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed its production halt will extend into next week, as the luxury car manufacturer continues to grapple with the fallout from a significant cyber attack.
Factory staff have been instructed to remain off work until at least Wednesday, though they are to stay on standby as bosses closely monitor the evolving situation.
Production was initially paused last week across JLR’s facilities, including its Halewood plant on Merseyside, the Solihull factory in the West Midlands, and the engine manufacturing site in Wolverhampton.
Employees were first told not to return until 9 September, but this period has now been prolonged for at least another week due to ongoing disruption to production lines.
The UK-based manufacturer was forced to shut down its systems on 31 August after detecting a cyber attack that impacted its global operations.
A spokesperson stated the company is "working around the clock" to resume production, deploying cybersecurity specialists and implementing workarounds to maintain some level of activity.
However, it warned that it believed “some data” had been accessed in the hack although it did not specify who has been affected, such as customers or staff.
The company said it was contacting people if it found their data had been affected.
An English-speaking hacker who calls himself “Rey” has claimed responsibility for the hack.
It is the latest in a spate of cyberattacks affecting UK businesses, with retailers M&S, the Co-op and Harrods among those worst affected.
M&S was forced to stop online sales for about six weeks and warned the incident could cost it around £300 million.
On Wednesday, train operator LNER said passengers’ contact details and some information about past journeys had been accessed in a cyberattack.
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