Jaguar Land Rover extends manufacturing shutdown for an additional week
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has prolonged a pause in automobile manufacturing for at the least one other week following a cyber assault by the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters hacking collective comprising members of the Scattered Spider, ShinyHunters, and Lapsus$ gangs.
The incident, which started on the finish of August earlier than changing into public on 2 September, compelled the suspension of labor at JLR’s Merseyside plant and has additionally affected its retail providers.
It has since emerged that knowledge of an undisclosed nature has been compromised by the cyber gang – which has been boasting of its exploits on Telegram however has additionally now claimed to have retired – and notified the related regulators. Its forensic investigation continues.
A JLR spokesperson mentioned: “At present we’ve knowledgeable colleagues, suppliers and companions that we’ve prolonged the present pause in our manufacturing till Wednesday 24 September 2025.
“Now we have taken this determination as our forensic investigation of the cyber incident continues, and as we think about the totally different levels of the managed restart of our world operations, which is able to take time.
“We’re very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is inflicting and we are going to proceed to replace because the investigation progresses,” they mentioned.
James McQuiggan, CISO advisor at KnowBe4, mentioned the persevering with disruption at JLR demonstrated how entwined cyber safety and wider enterprise resilience have now change into.
“When core programs are taken offline, the impression cascades by means of staff, suppliers and prospects, displaying that enterprise continuity and cyber defence needs to be indivisible,” he mentioned. “Past instant disruption, knowledge theft throughout such incidents will increase the long-term dangers, from reputational harm to regulatory penalties.”
“To mitigate these dangers, organisations ought to often take a look at and replace their enterprise continuity and incident response plans, strengthen provide chain threat assessments, and undertake zero-trust ideas to restrict attacker motion.”
McQuiggan added: “Simply as necessary is addressing human threat, as social engineering stays the main entry level for attackers. Ongoing safety consciousness, phishing simulations, and habits evaluation of customers in a human threat administration program assist customers recognise and resist malicious ways. By combining sturdy technical controls with a tradition of cyber resilience, organisations can cut back their publicity and recuperate with better confidence.”
Golden parachutes
In the meantime, the supposed Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters shutdown – introduced by way of BreachForums and Telegram throughout a lot of regularly crude postings – noticed ‘farewell’ messages that included a lot of apologies to the households of some gang members scooped up in legislation enforcement actions, to JLR, and to Google and CrowdStrike.
Within the messages, reviewed by CyberNews, one of many supposed gang members even addressed the CIA, saying they have been “so very sorry” they leaked labeled paperwork and “had no concept what they have been doing”.
“Please forgive me and f*** Iran. I will probably be going to the rehab heart for 60 days,” they added.
The gang’s alleged climbdown has drawn a sceptical eye from cyber neighborhood members who, primarily based on years of expertise, know that cyber criminals hardly ever if ever pack up store and go straight.
Cian Heasley, principal advisor at Acumen Cyber, mentioned that the gang’s speak of activating “contingency plans” and a name for followers to not fear about them as they might be having fun with their “golden parachutes with the thousands and thousands the group collected [sic]”, appeared far-fetched.
“This can be a clear transfer that implies its members are shopping for some respiration time, panicking about the specter of jail, and arguing behind the scenes about how a lot bother they’re really in and the have to be cautious,” mentioned Heasley.
“Given the risky and explosive nature of the group, it’s exhausting to think about they carried out this stage of due diligence.
“The lure of the cash and pleasure that comes with cyber crime will inevitably draw them again in ultimately,” added Heasley.
Certainly, even amid its farewell messages, Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters hinted at future developments and taunted the likes of the FBI and Mandiant, and varied victims together with luxurious items home Kering and Air France.
It additionally named British Airways, an organisation that doesn’t exist however which can be a reference to British Airways (BA).
BA is just not recognized to have been attacked on the time of writing, suggesting that extra victims of the latest hacking spree might but come to mild.
