A cyber attack that hit carmaker Jaguar Land Rover in August, forcing it to halt production until at least October, has sent a shockwave through British industry and needs government intervention, according to a senior Labour MP.
Liam Byrne, chairman of the business and trade select committee, said the issues at JLR are “a test for government”.
The Unite union has called for a Covid-style furlough scheme for workers in the company’s supply chain.
Mr Byrne backed those calls, warning that while 30,000 people were employed directly, the pause in production would indirectly affect up to 200,000 jobs in its supply chain.
The Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North said: “This is no small glitch. This is a cyber-shockwave that has brought yet another national institution to a standstill.
“Jaguar Land Rover is not just a carmaker. It is the heart of our advanced manufacturing, the anchor of a vast supply chain, and a cornerstone of both our regional and national economy.”
He said it was not clear if October 1 was the definitive day for JLR to restart production.
“They are going through a restoration of their back-up systems, we don’t know if there is data [that has] been lost. We just don’t know whether we’ve got 100 per cent probability of JLR coming back online and everything working smoothly.”
He added: “This is not a problem for JLR alone. This is a test for government. We will keep pressing ministers to track both the immediate and the wider economic fallout – and to be ready to act.”
Mr Byrne said people were losing their jobs through no fault of their own, adding “we need those people and those skills kept attached to these firms”.
The UK must not allow a cyber attack to “take down JLR and the supply chain then go down, because it’s incredibly difficult to put it back together again”, he told the BBC on Wednesday.
Mr Byrne said many firms do not have the resilience to defend themselves against cyber attacks, which meant there is a good public policy case for state help.
He said the JLR attack appeared much more serious than those on British retailers Marks & Spencer and the Co-op earlier this year.
Industry Minister Chris McDonald has said he is “supremely confident” that JLR will get through the incident, but warned that it should be a wake-up call for British industry.
Mr McDonald said: “We can’t underestimate just how serious the attack is,” as he visited Webasto, which supplies parts to JLR, in Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands, on Tuesday.
He added: “The most important thing for people to remember is that JLR will get through this.
“They’re a large company, they are very well supported by their parent [Tata], they’ve reorganised themselves internally to be able to deal with this. They’re making progress every single day.”
He added: “What I really want this to be is a wake-up call to British industry. I’m affronted by this attack on British industry. This is a serious attack on a flagship of British industry.”
Mr McDonald encouraged anyone running a business to “presume that you are under cyber attack” and make sure the company’s cyber security is up to date.
He said: “There are people every single day, it’s their job to do this, they are trying to take British companies down.”
When asked if there are plans for a furlough scheme, Mr McDonald said: “It’s really important that anything that happens is led by the businesses themselves, rather than saying we should pick a scheme off the shelf and apply that to the entire supply chain, which might help some businesses and not help other businesses.
“I think what’s important is to be responsive to the business leaders. People running the businesses know the businesses better than anybody else so I want to talk to them and find out what they think their issues are.”
MPs from across the West Midlands and Merseyside, where JLR has plants, have called for Business Secretary Peter Kyle to consider Covid-style loans to support supply chain firms.
Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker said it is “really important” that the British government understands the impact on businesses in the region.
He said: “At this point in time, JLR and the government are collating information on the impact that the lockdown has had on the supply chain: businesses here in the West Midlands.
“When we have got that information we will be in a better place to assess what’s needed to ensure that we protect jobs and ensure that the supply chain remains in place when Jaguar is back producing cars.”
