Dr Harjinder Lallie on the JLR cyber attack

Dr Harjinder Lallie, a cyber security expert from the University of Warwick, has commented on the severe cyber-attack which has forced Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to halt production at its two main UK plants and disrupted its retail business globally.

The incident, detected while in progress, led to the company shutting down its IT systems in order to minimise the damage. Although there is no evidence of customer data theft, both JLR's Halewood and Solihull factories have been badly affected, with staff sent home and production suspended at a critical sales period.

Dr Lallie highlighted the wider implications for the UK's automotive sector and national economy: "This attack illustrates how deeply cyber threats can impact not only a company's operations but also its employees, supply chains, and consumers. Modern car manufacturing is entirely dependent on digital systems, and an incident like this shows how disruption in cyber space translates directly into disruption in the real world.

"The key message here is resilience. Organisations of JLR's scale must plan for cyber-attacks as an inevitability, not a possibility. Investment in cyber defence is vital, but so too are contingency plans that enable businesses to recover quickly, reassure stakeholders, and maintain customer trust."

The attack follows a pattern of increasingly disruptive ransomware incidents targeting major UK companies, with criminals often seeking financial gain.

Dr Lallie concludes that the incident should serve as a reminder for businesses across all sectors:

"Cyber-attacks are no longer just an IT issue - they are a business continuity issue. The organisations best placed to weather such attacks will be those who embed cyber resilience at the very heart of their strategy."