Jaguar Land Rover hack cost UK economy an estimated $2.5B

I believe this used to be a thing absolutely, but something seem to change ~2012 where they seemingly went from some of the least reliable luxury cars on the market to some of the most - but the hangover from 50 years of unreliability will plague them for years to come I'm sure. The tests and standards they need to pass to get out of the design and manufacturing departments are pretty staggering now (compared to the tire kick tests they used to), and general reports from mechanics in forums I frequent and people I meet at car meets is that a modernish JLR will keep on ticking provided they're serviced every year.

Honestly, I've been eyeing up a 2015 Jaguar F-Type for a while now. It was a £85k car depending on trimming that you can pick up for £20k now with a V6 supercharged VS. An old-school style coupe, without all the modern ADAS beeping and handholding, that will just plod away if you look after it seems very appealing.

Upper middle class Americans are weirdly obsessed about LR, especially the new Defender. Jaguar I'm not sure how it survives (if it even really does nowadays).

Does any luxury brand ever make economic sense?

It's all about status. If you want a reliable car, you buy a Toyota.

I used to drive for five years (2015-2020) a 2009 naturally aspirated petrol Jaguar XF and it had zero issues except a single vacuum hose leak during my 100 000 kilometers (from 120 000 to 220 000) or so. The original rear upper wishbone arms were replaced and no more than expected normal wear & tear brake part replacements were needed. I still sometimes think that I'd like to have one again because in my opinion it was a quite nice and comfortable ride and turned out to be very good value as a used vehicle!

Maybe I had some kind of exception or are there dramatic differences between models and engines?

My mechanic friends say the same. The Range Rover is the best looking suv imo and looks over shop time for those that can afford it. That said, no mechanical issues with my 2020 sport.

They’re extremely temperamental vehicles because they’re not fit for purpose.

The original Range Rover is an upmarket agricultural vehicle, and used the same platform from 1970 until the 2000s. When you actually use them as intended, for off road farm work you realise they’re better off road than they are on road.

Anecdata I have a 2017 F-Type R. It's a daily driver and does not get babied. Has been essentially bulletproof, a couple of minor repairs, but nothing different than any other vehicle I have ever owned.

I've thought about replacing it, but why.

Ha ha, I had a Disco. It's the only vehicle I bought an extended warranty on. It's the only extended warranty I ever heard of that was worth buying. For starters: the fuel pump quit a couple blocks away from the dealership.

British Airways as well. N

Unless the hack was built on zero-days, I don't like the framing of the hack costing the UK economy billions.

The headline should be "Land Rover's Poor Cybersecurity and ITSEC Practices Cost UK Economy Billions", or something like that.

There aren’t many details available yet, but you can find some information here: https://treblle.com/blog/jlr-breach-breakdown-analysis

The main issue appears to be that the attack crippled JLR’s internal systems and production databases, preventing them from manufacturing new cars because they cannot properly track parts or generate serial numbers.

I’ve also read reports claiming that around 40k vehicles have already been built but are now essentially “ghost cars” since they aren’t registered in the system.

Imagine what would happen if JLR had to issue a safety recall without knowing which components are installed in which vehicles.

some info here https://www.cyfirma.com/research/investigation-report-on-jag...

> The breach was enabled through stolen Jira credentials harvested via Infostealer malware, a known hallmark of HELLCAT’s operations. The exposed data includes development logs, tracking information, source code, and a large employee dataset with usernames, email addresses, display names, and time zones. The presence of verified employee information from JLR’s global workforce raises significant concerns about identity theft and targeted phishing campaigns.

then

> the JLR breach escalated when a second threat actor, “APTS,” appeared on DarkForums on March 14, 2025. APTS claimed to have exploited Infostealer credentials dating back to 2021, belonging to an employee who held third-party access to JLR’s Jira server. Using these compromised credentials, the actor gained entry and shared a screenshot of a Jira dashboard as proof. APTS also leaked an additional tranche of sensitive data, estimated at around 350 GB, which contained information not included in Rey’s original dump, further amplifying the scale and severity of the breach.

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