Jaguar Land Rover cyber attack cost the UK economy $2.55 billion: Report

The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by India's Tata Motors, in August cost the British economy a whopping $2.55 billion, affecting5,000 companies. An independent cybersecurity body said in a report published on Wednesday that the losses could be higher if unexpected delays were caused to the restoration of production at the vehicle manufacturer to pre-hack levels.

Cyber Monitoring Centre, an independent, not-for-profit body, said the hacking was the most economically damaging cyber event in the United Kingdom.

"This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers," the CMC report said.

Jaguar Land Rover's manufacturing was resumed earlier this month after it came to a halt for a whopping six weeks. The loss of function hit the company and thousands of other suppliers of goods and services.

Jaguar Land Rover is owned by India's Tata Group. It has three factories in Britain which belt out 1000 cars every day. These factories also support smaller companies that supply parts.

It is the costliest cyber attack in the UK. In March, clothes company Marks and Spencer lost $400 million after a cyber attack shut down its online services for two months.

Jaguar Land Rover lost 50 million pounds every week due to the shutdown, reported Reuters. The British government has provided a 1.5 billion pound loan guarantee to help it support suppliers.

The CMC ranked the JLR hack as a Category 3 systemic event, out of a scale of five. It was observed that the hack disrupted JLR's manufacturing substantially. It also hit its supply chain and downstream companies, including dealerships.