Former defence minister Al Carns has revealed the massive cyber attack that wrought havoc with operations at Jaguar Land Rover last year was state-sponsored.
Carns’ comments, The Telegraph reports, mark the first acknowledgement from a government figure that a hostile foreign power was behind the cyber attack.
Thought to be the most financially damaging cyber attack n British history, the hack is estimated to have cost up to £2.1billion.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was forced to cease production for over a month, throwing 200,000 jobs into jeopardy.
Although The Telegraph reported Russia was suspected to be behind the attack, no final assessment was ever made public.
Asked about how the UK can deter cyber threats, Carns said: "We know there is £15bn of cyber-attacks, we know there’s espionage going on, we know there’s 35,000 casualties a month-ish in Ukraine. We know the Jaguar Land Rover attack was state-sponsored, etc.
“But we never have a proper national conversation with the nation, and what we would ask of society should there be a crisis.”
Read the full story in The Telegraph.
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