Production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and dozens of its suppliers is set to remain on hold for at least another week, with disruption from a crippling cyber-attack expected to last until well into next month. The UK’s biggest car manufacturer halted production at the sites after discovering hackers had infiltrated its systems a week ago, says The Guardian.

Thousands of production workers at Halewood on Merseyside, and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands have already been told to stay away until Tuesday. They will continue to be paid as usual and “bank” their hours to be picked up later on.

Tata-owned JLR will update workers today on its plans for later in the week. It is thought likely that thousands will be kept on pause until at least Thursday and probably beyond at JLR’s own operations in the UK and in Slovakia, Brazil and India as well as at dozens of suppliers.

JLR is having to operate without dozens of digital systems, with access cut off to databases, including those for spare parts. Sources said car dealerships and garages were able to continue operating but with severe disruption as they turned to phone calls and manual systems – in some cases pen and paper – to register vehicles and secure spare parts.

In a statement, JLR said:

“We continue to work around the clock to restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner following the recent cyber incident. We are working with third‑party cybersecurity specialists and alongside law enforcement.

“We want to thank all our customers, partners, suppliers and colleagues for their patience and support. We are very sorry for the disruption this incident has caused. Our retail partners remain open and we will continue to provide further updates.”

(Pic: JLR)