As if Jaguar Land Rover wasn't in enough trouble, a cyberattack has temporarily brought the company to a screeching halt. The Liverpool Echo reports that workers at JLR's Merseyside and Halewood factories were told not to report to work early Monday morning due to a "global IT system issue."
"JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident," confirmed Jaguar Land Rover in a brief statement. "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. At this stage there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted."
We don't know the precise nature of the attack, what specific systems were targeted, or who may be responsible. JLR is likely keeping this information to itself for security reasons as it determines the scope of the attack and takes corrective measures. Maybe somebody really didn't like Jaguar's rebrand.
Read more: These Supercars Lose Value So Quickly, They're Almost A Steal
The Nuclear Option
Shutting down the entire business is not particularly good for business. However, it can be the lesser evil when faced with a massive cyberattack like this. The most secure system is one that nobody can get into at all. It's a nuclear option, but it does buy system administrators some time to identify the source and determine what, if any, proprietary data has been accessed or stolen. It's worth repeating that JLR believes that despite the severity of this attack, no customer data has been compromised.
Bringing systems back online, one by one, is a slow, painstaking process, especially with system administrators watching every move the software makes. But that's also the point. The extra scrutiny ensures that malware doesn't allow unauthorized people into the system or leak private data outside the company. Administrators may also be able to identify the perpetrators and have them arrested, as Harrods did in its own cyberattack in May, reports The Guardian.
The JLR attack started on Sunday, which, according to Bleeping Computer, is a popular time to attack since regular staff are not around to stop it. Additionally, the BBC reports that a new batch of vehicle registrations just became available on September 1, making it a popular time to buy a new vehicle. The attack hit JLR at just the right time to hurt those sales, as both retail systems and factories are affected. This won't help JLR ship more cars to the U.S. either.
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