Major companies need to prepare better for cyber-attacks, a business professor has warned in the wake of Jaguar Land Rover being paralysed by one this month.
David Bailey, professor of Business Economics at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC the cyber attack on JLR should serve as a ‘wake-up call’ for other businesses.
JLR has made no cars this month at any of its plants in Liverpool, Solihull and Wolverhampton, with its production cut by 24,000 as a result of the attack.
He said this has already impacted profits by £120million, and has led to £1.7billion in lost revenue.
Bailey says the shutdown could be costing JLR £5million per day.
The cyber attack, which took place earlier this month, forced JLR to shut down its systems. The firm sent staff home at its Liverpool plant.
JLR made no cars this month at any of its plants in Liverpool, Solihull and Wolverhampton, with its production cut by 24,000 according to Bailey
While it initially said no data had been stolen, JLR has since said that some customer data may have been affected.
The firm said in a statement: ‘JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident. We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems.
‘We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.’
While JLR is large enough survive the cyber attack, Bailey says the Government will have to intervene to save the rest of the supply chain. Bailey says a furlough and emergency loan scheme should be introduced.
Jonathan Lee, UK cybersecurity director at Trend Micro, told This is Money: ‘The cyber-attack that has disrupted operations at JLR is yet another example of how serious and damaging cyber attacks can be, both for victim organisations themselves as well as their supply chain partners.
‘Businesses and MPs are rightly questioning what more can be done to reduce the impact of these attacks on organisations in the UK.
‘There’s already a body of existing government schemes to improve the UK’s cyber resilience, with legislation in the works, but these should be seen as the minimum expected standards – as a floor rather than a ceiling.’
Six West Midlands MPs have today called for the Department of Business and Trade to provide short term loans to affected suppliers.
The Government said in a statement that it is working with JLR to understand the impacts on the supply chain, and to support the restarting of production.
Sarah Coombes, Labour MP for West Bromwich, says the Government is considering multiple options but has yet to decide on a response.
A spokes,am for JLR said: ‘This action complements JLR’s wider response, including our focus on our global supply chain, our retail partners, our clients and our people as we continue to work around the clock to restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner.’
Bailey told the BBC: ‘We need to start thinking about how to build the resilience of the manufacturing system.’
Lee said: ‘UK organisations need to take a proactive, continuously evolving approach to keeping themselves secure from threats, modelling how attackers might strike to stay ahead of their adversaries.
‘No single step will prevent every attack.
‘Ensuring that cybersecurity is treated as an organisational priority is the best approach, with strong governance, robust basics, suitable investment, use of up-to-date technology and a proactive culture of vigilance.’
Last week, Heathrow airport and a number of other major European airports faced swathes of flight delays after automatic check-in and boarding software provided by Collins Aerospace was targeted by hackers.
Other major UK businesses have suffered cyber attacks in recent months, with M&S and Co-op, crippling the two retailers, with Co-op shelves left bare and M&S IT systems still not fully restored.
Hackers stole the data of millions of customers and stuff at the two firms, and M&S says it expects to lose £300million in profits as a result of the attack.
JLR isn’t expected to resume production until at least Wednesday.
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