Supplier’s fear over Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack

Shaun Adams said it was worrying to see the knock on impact

The managing director of a car parts supplier has described the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) as a worrying development for their business.

The attack at the weekend forced JLR to take vital IT systems offline, which has affected car sales and production. Factory staff were instructed to stay home until at least Tuesday as the company continues to resolve the disruption.

Qualplast's Shaun Adams described JLR as a significant client, and the shutdown of production would have a knock-on effect on the company's own sales.

"It's worrying, I mean at the moment we sort of haven't moved into panic mode and recovery mode, but it is certainly worrying," he said.

"We're used to having relatively short shutdowns or disruptions to production, so we can pick this back up after this finishes," he added, sounding a positive note.

But he made clear that any disruption to a major client that went on for "a considerable amount of time" would be "concerning".

"We have other work that we can move people onto in the short term, but if this starts progressing over weeks, then we would have to seriously look at what we need to future-proof," he said.

'Extremely serious'

Qualplast makes products using a process called flock coating; this involves applying tiny fibres to surfaces to give them a soft, velvety texture. It is used for parts like glove boxes, armrests and door pockets.

"As a second-tier supplier this has happened to us, and we have no control over this.

"Also I find it very interesting that Britain seems to be so far behind the curve when it comes to cyber-security," Mr Adams added.

Factory staff were instructed to stay home until at least Tuesday

Production remains halted at car factories in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands, as well as at its engine manufacturing centre in Wolverhampton.

On Wednesday, a hacker group, which was also responsible for a highly damaging attack on Marks and Spencer earlier in the year, claimed responsibility for infiltrating JLR's systems.

Cyber security expert Dr Harjinder Lallie from the University of Warwick said while the extent of the hack remains unclear, it should be taken "extremely serious".

"This is a major car manufacturer, and their production supply, it seems, has been knocked out for the foreseeable future, causing lots of people to sit at home, putting a massive dent in profit."

He said attacks like this and the one at Marks and Spencer are often ransom attacks.

"They will encrypt all your data, and they'll say, 'We're not going to let you get back in until you pay us so many millions and billions of Bitcoins'.

"If you don't pay them, they'll threaten the company with not letting them back into their systems," Mr Adams said.

The BBC updated this article on 7 September to correct a misquote in Mr Adams' interview