Jaguar Land Rover brings some IT systems online in ‘phased restart’ after attack

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said parts of its IT systems are back online amid a “phased restart” of its operations as it continues to recover from a damaging cyber attack.

The British carmaker has been forced to suspend production at its UK factories for several weeks after being targeted by hackers.

The shutdown is expected to last until October 1 at the earliest.

But the company said it had been able to get some of its digital systems running again and can now begin clearing a backlog of payments to suppliers.

A spokesman for JLR said: “As part of the controlled, phased restart of our operations, today we have informed colleagues, suppliers and retail partners that sections of our digital estate are now up and running.

“The foundational work of our recovery programme is firmly under way.”

The company said it had increased its processing capacity for invoices which meant it was able to resume payments to its suppliers.

Unions and politicians have warned that small suppliers producing parts for the car giant could collapse without urgent financial support.

JLR said its global parts logistics centre, which supplies spare parts that are used to service its customers’ vehicles, was returning to full operations.

It has also been able to resume processing wholesales of its vehicles which means it can sell and register cars for its clients faster.

“These are important initial steps as our dedicated teams work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK Government’s NCSC and law enforcement to ensure we restart in a safe and secure manner,” JLR said.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say whether the Government could buy components parts typically used by JLR from their suppliers in order to keep the smaller businesses trading until production restarts.

Reports on Thursday said officials were considering stepping in to help keep firms in the supply chain afloat.

In an interview with ITV Central, the Prime Minister said he was “really concerned” for the carmaker and “equally concerned about the other businesses that feed into JLR and the impact it’s having on them”.

He said the Department for Business and Trade was “working 24/7 with those businesses to see what we can do” but added he was “not in a position to give you outcomes” of those conversations.

The chairman of the Business and Trade Committee, Liam Byrne, has written to the Chancellor with a series of questions on the measures available to urgently support suppliers.