The UK government has announced a £1.5 billion ($2 billion) loan guarantee for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in response to the highly disruptive cyberattack that recently hit the carmaker.
The government made the announcement on Sunday, saying that the support package is meant to “give certainty to its supply chain following a recent cyber-attack”.
“The loan from a commercial bank, backed by the Export Development Guarantee (EDG) provided by export credit agency UK Export Finance, will be paid back over five years and bolster JLR’s cash reserves so it can support its supply chain which has been greatly impacted by the shutdown,” the government said.
The government’s announcement points out that JLR is one of the UK’s largest exporters and is responsible for one of the largest automotive sector supply chains in the country. Roughly 34,000 people are employed directly by JLR and 120,000 in supply chain operations.
Some experts believe the bailout will encourage cybercriminals to continue targeting UK companies with weak cybersecurity.
“Personally I think the UK is going to be one to watch now,” said cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont, who has been monitoring this and other major cyber incidents, “if I was an e-crime threat actor, I’d zero in on the UK.”
Insurance news website The Insurer reported last week that JLR had failed to secure cyberinsurance ahead of the hacker attack, claims that the carmaker has refused to confirm or deny.
The Guardian reported that JLR, which is owned by Tata Group, has outsourced cybersecurity and other IT services to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which also works with Marks & Spencer and Co-op, both believed to have been targeted by Scattered Spider, the same cybercrime group that has taken credit for the attack on JLR.
The cyberattack, discovered in late August, resulted in severe disruptions to the company’s internal systems and the shutdown of production lines.
In a statement issued on September 25, JLR said it had managed to restore “sections of its digital estate”, including systems related to invoicing, parts logistics, and sales. On September 29, the company said some of its manufacturing operations will “resume in the coming days”. JLR previously said production would resume on October 1 at the earliest.
The company admitted that the cyberattack resulted in a data breach, but it has yet to clarify what type of information has been compromised.
JLR has also yet to make public any estimate on the cyberattack’s financial impact. The British retailers believed to have been targeted recently by Scattered Spider reported losses of hundreds of millions of pounds. Co-op last week reported £206 million ($275 million) in lost sales, while Marks & Spencer in May estimated losses of £300 million ($400 million).
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