Russian hackers were behind the JLR cyberattack that cost the UK economy $2.5 billion

Russian hackers were behind the JLR cyberattack that cost the UK economy $2.5 billion describes an investigation attributing last year’s Jaguar Land Rover attack to Russian hacking activity. According to a New York Times report published Thursday, the breach began on 31 August 2025 and halted production across JLR factories for nearly six weeks. The investigation estimates the cost to the UK economy at about $2.5 billion, calling it the most financially damaging cyberattack in UK history. Investigators involved the FBI, Britain’s National Crime Agency, the National Cyber Security Centre, Google’s Mandiant, and Palo Alto Networks, alongside Microsoft tracking the group and alerting JLR. The attack started with a vishing campaign that tricked employees into handing over credentials, including in some cases administrator privileges, enabling access through normal authentication flows. The UK government responded with an emergency loan of £1.5 billion (about $2 billion) and later linked GDP growth shortfalls partly to the incident.