**Jaguar Land Rover Staff Told to Stay Home Following Cyber Attack**

In a shocking turn of events, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has instructed factory staff to stay at home until at least Tuesday due to the ongoing fallout from a cyber attack. The company, owned by India's Tata Motors, took vital IT systems offline over the weekend in an effort to limit potential damage from the malicious attack.

The situation remains under review, and output could remain suspended for longer. Production has been halted at car factories in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands, as well as at its engine manufacturing centre in Wolverhampton. The disruption extends far beyond JLR's own production lines, with its network of parts suppliers also forced to restrict their operations.

**A Complex Process**

The cyber attack is understood to be a highly complex process, requiring significant time and effort to restore the company's systems in a controlled manner. JLR has introduced work-arounds for systems that remain offline, but the exact timeline for restoration remains uncertain.

**Impact on Car Sales and Owners**

Car sales have also been heavily disrupted, although some transactions have been able to take place. However, repair garages and Land Rover owners are facing significant delays if their cars need new parts. Independent garage owner James Wallis of Nyewood Express in West Sussex expressed concerns about the lack of transparency from JLR.

"Panic sets in," he said. "I don't know what I'm looking for or where it is. If you can't find the parts, you can't buy them. You can't fix the car." He added that existing Jaguar or Land Rover owners may face delays if their cars need new parts, resulting in an idle vehicle and a frustrated customer.

**Global Impact**

The disruption extends beyond JLR's own production lines, with its network of parts suppliers also forced to restrict their operations. Land Rover dealers and repair specialists across the world are affected, including those in Australia and Tasmania.

Alan Howard, a Londoner who runs a Land Rover parts specialist in Tasmania, expressed his frustration about the lack of communication from JLR. "Monday morning we [came] in and the system is down," he said. He added that even though he's an independent, he uses the same software as a Land Rover dealer in London.

**The Hackers**

On Wednesday, a hacker group claiming responsibility for the attack posted images on social media, showing internal instructions for troubleshooting a car charging issue and internal computer logs. The group, known as "Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters", also claimed to have accessed JLR's systems but did not reveal if they successfully stole private data from JLR or installed malicious software.

A security expert analyzed the screenshots posted by the hackers and suggested that the group had access to information they should not have. JLR says it is investigating the hack, but there is no evidence at this stage that any customer data has been stolen.

**Previous Security Efforts**

In 2023, as part of an effort to "accelerate digital transformation across its business", JLR signed a five-year, £800m deal with corporate stablemate Tata Consultancy Services to provide cybersecurity and other IT services. The halt in production is a fresh blow to the firm, which recently revealed a slump in profits attributed to an increase in costs caused by US tariffs.

The situation remains under review, and it's unclear when production will resume or how long the disruption will last. As one can only hope that JLR is able to get its systems back online soon, for now, the company remains under attack from within.