More than one million drivers are unable to get repairs for their vehicles after Jaguar Land Rover was targeted by a major cyber attack at the start of the month.
British manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover announced earlier this week that it had been the victim of a "cyber incident" which had affected most of its services.
JLR took immediate action to mitigate the impact of the attack by proactively shutting down its systems, impacting production and its ability to register new vehicles.
Businesses have now warned that they cannot carry out diagnostics or order new parts for Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Jaguars, of which there are more than one million on the road.
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Jaguar Land Rover's cyber attack could have a devastating impact on repairs for more than one million vehicles across the country
|REUTERS/JLR/PA
JLR said it was working at a pace to restart its global operations in a controlled manner, with owner Tata Motors confirming that the incident had caused serious issues.
However, there is no evidence that customer data was stolen, although retail and production activities were "severely disrupted".
Mechanics and independent dealers have reported issues with the company's diagnostics systems and electronic parts catalogue, according to The Telegraph.
One dealer, James Wallis, from Nyewood Express in Hampshire, told the outlet that drivers could expect "devastating" disruption.
Staff at JLR's Halewood Plant have been told to go home | PAHe explained that the issue was first identified on Monday and is yet to be resolved, causing issues for drivers who are experiencing difficulties with their JLR vehicles.
The mechanic added: "It's really devastating and I think very few people know what it means. You're going to see a lot of broken Land Rovers, because you can’t get the parts. If a car's MOT comes around and it fails, that car is going to be off the road."
It has been claimed that the hackers behind the attack are the group believed to be responsible for the devastating disruption caused to department store Marks and Spencer earlier this year.
Messages on Telegram appear to show the group bragging about the attack, with one of the alleged members asking: "Where is my new car?"
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Screenshots of data logs have also surfaced on social media, although Jaguar Land Rover has not commented on the validity of the claims.
Tim Grieveson, CISO at ThingsRecon, highlighted research that showed how every hour of downtime in the automotive sector could cost upwards of £1.6million, especially when September is typically one of the most successful times of the year.
He added: "Every day of halted production means fewer cars to sell, while dealers are losing immediate income from being unable to register or deliver vehicles.
"For JLR, the priority is to quantify and communicate the financial exposure quickly, both in terms of missed sales and delayed cash flow.
Jaguar Land Rover said it was working to restore its systems as quickly as possible | JLR"The real risk is longer-term damage to customer confidence if remediation isn’t swift and transparent."
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it was aware of an incident affecting the manufacturer and that it was "working with partners to better understand its impact".
The incident came at an important time of the year for all car brands, with the introduction of the "75" identifier tag and the historically successful "new reg day".
The new plates were launched on September 1, with motorists typically choosing to buy a new car to get their hands on the latest models and licence plates.