Jaguar Land Rover staff told to stay home after cyber-attack
Jaguar Land Rover has told its factory staff to stay home until at least next Tuesday as it continues to deal with the effects of a cyber-attack.The carmaker has had to stop production at its factories in Merseyside and the West Midlands after hackers infiltrated its systems.Production workers in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands and at JLR’s engine manufacturing site in Wolverhampton have been told to stay away until 9 September, in a tacit admission that a swift resolution to the problem is unlikely.The UK’s biggest car manufacturer, owned by India’s Tata group, halted production at the sites after discovering the breach on Sunday.It has since said its global operations had been “severely disrupted” by the cyber incident.
While there was no evidence that any customer data had been taken, JLR said it had decided to shut down its systems to mitigate the impact of the hack.The cyber-attack, which follows a spate of similar attacks across the UK retail sector, could take considerable time to resolve, given the experience this year of companies such as Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods.It is another blow for JLR, which was already struggling with the impact of US tariffs on the sector and weak consumer confidence.The hack has disrupted sales, with thousands of customers awaiting new vehicles, at one of the busiest times of the year for the market.September is one of the two months when new registration plates are released in the UK.
Repairs are also affected, with dealerships and garages unable to order new parts online,On Wednesday, a group of English-speaking hackers linked to the retail hacks claimed responsibility for the JLR attack,Screenshots were posted on a Telegram channel amalgamating the names of hacking groups known as Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionScattered Spider has been blamed for the UK cyber-attacks, which forced M&S to stop online sales for six weeks and cost the retailer an estimated £300m,A JLR spokesperson said the company was “aware of the claims and continues to investigate”.
The carmaker, which has its headquarters in Coventry, employs 32,800 people in the UK.
Marks & Spencer food chief calls for ‘concrete target’ on British produce
Marks & Spencer’s head of food has called on the government to set a legally binding “concrete target” to increase the proportion of food produced at home, as he warned that Britain was becoming “less and less self-sufficient”.Alex Freudmann, the managing director of the upmarket grocer’s food division, which works with 10,000 British farms, said: “If ministers are committed to domestic food supply, then they need to prove it, and that’s why we’re backing our farmers’ calls for a clear and concrete target to increase the proportion of food eaten in Britain that’s grown or reared in Britain.”At present, less than half of the food consumed in the UK is produced here and farmers say it should be much more to ensure security of supply amid global uncertainties including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the climate crisis.“If [a target] was set down in law, just like the net zero targets are, it could tilt the balance towards farmers and decisions around planning or access to water, which are incredibly painful to navigate today,” Freudmann said.Ministers needed to “fight quickly” as discussions on the UK government’s food strategy restarted this month and “we’re getting less and less self-sufficient”
Revisions and rising unemployment: what to know about the US jobs report
A closely watched report on US jobs released on Friday gave signs of a cooling labor market.The economy added just 22,000 new jobs in August, coming in below expectations, while the unemployment rate ticked slightly up to 4.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the beginning of the year, more than 100,000 jobs were being added each month.Amid Donald Trump’s trade wars, tariffs have now been put on most foreign goods and prices have started going up
Head of UK’s beleaguered Alan Turing Institute resigns
The chief executive of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute is stepping down after a staff revolt and government calls for a strategic overhaul.Jean Innes has led the Alan Turing Institute since 2023, but her position has come under pressure amid widespread discontent within the organisation and a demand from its biggest funder, the UK government, for a change in direction.ATI said the search was already under way for a replacement for Innes, who held senior roles in the civil service and technology industry before her appointment.Government sources pointed to a letter sent by the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to ATI’s chair in July that demanded strategic change and indicated a need for new leadership.In the letter, Kyle said the institute should switch its focus to defence and national security and urged “careful consideration” on having an appropriate executive team in place for such a move
Quantum computing firm reaches $10bn valuation as investor interest builds
A British quantum computing entrepreneur has doubled the value of his stake in the business he founded to $2bn (£1.5bn), after the company achieved a $10bn valuation in its latest fundraising.Ilyas Khan, 63, is the founder of Quantinuum, a UK-US firm that announced on Thursday it had raised $600m as investor interest builds in the cutting-edge technology.Khan set up Quantinuum’s predecessor company, Cambridge Quantum, in 2014 before it merged with the US-based Honeywell Quantum Solutions in 2021.Khan, a former owner of his home town’s football club Accrington Stanley, is now chief product officer at the business and to date has not sold any shares since founding it more than a decade ago
Ellie Kildunne ruled out of England’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final after head injury
The England full-back Ellie Kildunne has been ruled out of the team’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Scotland next Sunday because of concussion protocol.It was confirmed after the Red Roses’ win over Australia that Kildunne did not have a head injury assessment as she was immediately removed with concussion symptoms after hitting her head on the ground following a tackle. That means that the reigning world player of the year has to have a 12-day mandatory stand down period.If England reach the semi-finals Kildunne could play but that is dependent on her passing the return-to-play protocols. The Red Roses have Gloucester’s Emma Sing as their backup full-back, as well as versatile back Helena Rowland who can play in the position
Red Roses must relish unfamiliar pressure in quest for World Cup glory | Andy Bull
You can measure a good team by how many they’ve won, or you can measure them by how many they might have lost but didn’t. The Red Roses are well ahead on the first count, they’re on a 30-match winning streak now, and have suffered just the one, solitary, defeat in the last six years.But it’s less clear what their other tally is. Their one-point victory over France in the final match of this year’s Six Nations was the only time they’ve had to confront the possibility of losing in the last few months, and even in that match they led from start to finish.Which made the first half of this victory against Australia the most intriguing 40 minutes they’ve had in a long while
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