JLR cyberattack costs UK economy a record £1.9bn - report

(Sharecast News) - The attack on Jaguar Land Rover has cost the UK economy £1.9bn, according to a cybersecurity body, making it the country's costliest ever hack. JLR was forced to shutter operations for five weeks following a cyber incident at the end of August.

The UK's largest car manufacturer, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, normally produces around 1,000 cars a day from sites in Solihull, Halewood and Wolverhampton.

The firm employs 30,000 people, but is widely accepted to support a further 100,000 jobs across its extensive supply chain.

According to the Cyber Monitoring Centre, which is funded by the insurance industry, the attack was a significant category 3 systemic event, out of a scale of five.

Based on its models, the CMC estimates that the UK financial impact was £1.9bn, with over 5,000 British organisations affected.

The CMC said: "At £1.9bn of financial loss, this incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK.

"This event demonstrates how a cyberattack on a single manufacturer can reverberate across regions and industries, from suppliers to transport to retail, and underscores the strategic importance of cyber resilience."

CMC's modelled range of loss is £1.6bn to £2.1bn, but it warned that could be higher if there were unexpected delays in bringing production back to pre-event levels.

It also noted that its estimates were sensitive to a number of assumptions, including when JLR will be able to fully restore production.

JLR began a phased restart of operations earlier this month. CMC does not expect a full recovery will be reached until January 2026.

JLR confirmed earlier this month that sales had plunged in the three months to September, with wholesale units tumbling 24%, and retail 17%. Adrian Mardell, chief executive, said at the time that it had been a "challenging" quarter.

JLR has not commented directly on the CMC report.