Jaguar Land Rover halts production after cyber attack

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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been forced to halt car production and disrupt global operations following a cyber attack that has “severely disrupted” the company’s systems.

The British car manufacturer, which produces Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery vehicles, confirmed it shut down its computer networks to contain the incident, affecting factories, showrooms and repair shops.

Employees at the company’s Merseyside plant have been told to stay home, and it is unclear when production will resume. The attack comes at a particularly sensitive time for JLR, coinciding with a busy period for new car registrations and following recent challenges with US trade tariffs.

A spokesman for JLR said:

“JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident. We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems. We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.”

While the company has not disclosed the nature of the attack, it has moved to reassure customers that no sensitive information has been compromised. The spokesman added: “At this stage, there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen, but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted.”

Added Oakley Cox, Director (Operational Technology) of Product at Darktrace:

“JLR’s decision to proactively shut down global manufacturing suggests this attack may have been targeting their operational systems, not just customer data. The speed of their response is telling – you don’t typically halt production across multiple sites unless there’s genuine concern about operational impact.

“It highlights the increasing attraction of the automotive sector to attackers and given the unique needs of automotive manufacturers – from the car to the factory floor – raises a question of whether automotive businesses need better access to cybersecurity that’s built to around their needs.”

The attack is the latest in a series of cyber incidents targeting major British businesses, including Marks & Spencer and The Co-op. The full extent of the damage and the timeline for recovery remain uncertain as JLR’s technical teams work to resolve the crisis.

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