News

Data has been "affected" as a result of the cyber attack on JLR last week, the company has confirmed.

The 1 September hack has left the Jaguar and Land Rover maker crippled. No cars have been produced globally since, leading to what is expected to be millions of pounds of lost income.

A timescale for a fix is yet to be announced.

The extent of the issues meant JLR brought in police and cybersecurity experts over the weekend to “restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner”.

During this process, which included an investigation, it was discovered that "some data" was "affected", said JLR.

JLR said today (10 September) that those affected will be contacted, suggesting that this data relates to customers and may have been stolen.

A JLR spokesperson told Autocar: “As a result of our ongoing investigation, we now believe that some data has been affected and we are informing the relevant regulators. 

“Our forensic investigation continues at pace and we will contact anyone as appropriate if we find that their data has been impacted.

“We are very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is causing and we will continue to update as the investigation progresses.”

JLR has been rebuilding its internal IT systems since it shut them down following the cyber attack.

Alongside production issues, dealer sales, handovers and parts ordering are also affected. 

JLR told Autocar on Saturday that “our retail partners remain open”. Autocar understands dealers are manually registering cars while computer systems remain down.

Meanwhile, the majority of workers at JLR’s production sites in the West Midlands and Merseyside have been told not to return to work again today. They are being updated daily and still being paid, with lost hours being "banked".

Production is also understood to have stopped at JLR's factories in Slovakia and India.

While JLR's public-facing website appears to be fully operational, the car configurator isn't accepting build orders, instead directing buyers to purchase from stock.

JLR hack: what happened?

Autocar first reported issues affecting JLR on 1 September, when dealers couldn't register new cars on 'new plate day' , traditionally one of the year's busiest for registrations.

In an effort to combat the hack, JLR began “shutting down our systems” on 2 September.

It's still in the process of rebuilding them and is unabel to confirm a timescale for the fix.

Who has claimed responsibility?

On 3 September, Scattered Spider – the group that hacked retailer Marks & Spencer in May, causing seven weeks of disruption and costing £300 million in lost operating profit – claimed responsibility for the attack on JLR.

Along with fellow hacking group Shiny Hunters, it claimed to have obtained customer data after exploiting a similar flaw in JLR’s IT system, The Telegraph reported.

The claim was made on a Telegram messenger group, where a user linked to the hackers posted a screenshot of what appeared to show JLR's internal system.

A member of the group told The Telegraph that a well-known flaw in SAP Netweaver - third-party software used by JLR - was exploited to access the data.

US cyber agency CISA warned about the flaw earlier this year. An update for the software was released, but whether JLR applied it is unknown.

It's also not known what data was taken or if a ransom demand has been made. 

JLR told Autocar in a statement on 3 September that “there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen”.

​According to The Telegraph, the hacking groups are believed to be made up of teenagers from English-speaking countries.

New Renault Group boss François Provost has said legislators should focus on how to reduce the cost of electric vehicles, rather than forcing manufacturers to sell them in ever-greater numbers.

The Frenchman was recently named CEO of the French car giant, succeeding Luca de Meo, who was instrumental in implementing a recovery plan that involved reviving the Renault 5 and 4 as small EVs.

Provost sat down with a select group of journalists, including Autocar, at the Munich motor show to outline his vision for the firm and answer questions on a range of topics – including the EU’s planned 2035 ban on the sale of non-zero-emission cars. 

While the professional, slightly conservative Provost might seem a sharp contrast with the sharp-suited predecessor de Meo, they are similar in how they answer questions: Provost speaks with a brisk directness and a pleasant candour not so different from de Meo. 

He launched immediately into the most important of declarations: “I’m a continuity man,” he said. “Our central task is to promote the Renaulution plan [introduced by de Meo in 2021], to build a strong line-up in Europe and then to renew it. Of course, we must be ready to react if internal factors change – but we have the Ampere and Horse divisions [spin-off firms that focus on EV and ICE development respectively] to help with that.”

When it comes to dealing with the Chinese model offensive in European markets, Provost pointed to Renault’s attempts to speed up its model development to less than two years and added: ”We are also capable of very strong and emotional designs and we have proved it. 

“We are better at this than our competitors – especially the Chinese. We are also busy improving our customer engagement: we respect our dealers and we aim to bring our own special values to the customer experience.”

When asked about the EU CO2 targets, Provost gave a thoughtful response. “We should not focus on 2035,” he said, “even if it makes a nice hook for your headlines. 

“The fact is that EV prices now are far too high for people – right now – and because of that, we are producing more carbon than we need to. We must make it clear that the industrial logic in Europe is wrong. What is needed is less regulation, which would allow car prices to be more affordable. Technology neutrality that pushes EVs forward should be the way.” 

Asked what he was doing to push that message, Provost said: “First, I will focus on what I can control, so I’ll keep working on costs. Then I will go to the European authorities with my colleagues [other industry leaders] to enhance their sense of urgency. They should know that the job of stimulating the EV market cannot fall on car manufacturers alone: as well as the wrong European logic, we have issues with charging infrastructure and the price of electricity across Europe.”

Like de Meo, Provost makes it clear he believes generally in pursuing value over volume with car sales – which instantly opens him to questions about how Renault will cope with new-car discounting, rising across Europe. “We will follow the market,” he said, "but without doing anything crazy. Again, this is why I continue to push on reducing costs…”

Provost also said the firm’s Alpine-branded Formula 1 team, which will switch from using Renault-built to Mercedes powertrains next year, was safe despite its recent struggles.

“We will stay in F1,” he said. “We have good contracts and good sponsors, and I believe we have passed a tipping point. That’s not to say we are about to start winning, but I believe we now have stable management and a good power unit from Mercedes. I think we now have a chance to do better.”