By Jordan Coussins,Rhiannon James and Nick Lester PA Political Staff

Copyright birminghammail

A business minister has stated that he can neither confirm nor deny if the significant cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover was state-sponsored. Sir Chris Bryant, when questioned by the Conservatives about the identity of the attackers, said he would not “jump to conclusions”, as investigations are still ongoing. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had to shut down its systems on 31 August after identifying issues affecting its global operations. The British car manufacturer, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, disclosed that its production and sales were “severely disrupted”, with factory staff instructed to stay at home. Factory workers are now on standby until at least Thursday, with the company updating them daily on whether they should return to work. The luxury carmaker has halted production at its factories in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands, as well as at its engine manufacturing site in Wolverhampton. Read more: HMRC tax raid ‘confirmed’ A group of young hackers, who previously targeted Marks and Spencer and other British brands, have reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. The BBC reported that the gang boasted about the hack on the instant messaging platform Telegram and shared screenshots allegedly from JLR’s internal IT system. Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, shadow business minister Dame Harriett Baldwin asked the minister to “rule out this being a state-sponsored attack”. To which Sir Chris responded: “Can I say who’s responsible? No, I’m afraid I can’t. “I note what is in the public domain, I have no idea whether that is accurate or not, and I don’t want to impede the investigation. “(Dame Harriett) asked, is it state-sponsored? Again, I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I can’t, I’m afraid, I can neither confirm nor deny anything. “And she asked, furthermore, whether … this case was linked with that of M&S . Again, I can’t answer that question as fulsomely as I would like to be able to, simply because I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody has come to any secure decisions on that.” Sir Chris also informed MPs the Government plans to introduce its Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to the Commons “soon”. The hacking collective made their assertions on a Telegram channel called Scattered LapsusS Hunters, which represents a merger of three English-speaking cyber criminal groups known as Scattered Spider, LapsusS and ShinyHunters. Scattered Spider has been held responsible for the cyber strikes on British high street chains earlier this year, following which M&S suspended online trading for approximately six weeks and cautioned that the breach could result in losses of around £300 million. Four young suspects were detained over alleged connections to the April cyber attacks and have since been released on bail. Labour’s Derek Twigg, the Widnes and Halewood MP who raised an urgent parliamentary question on the matter, cautioned “there could be an ongoing and even more serious effect on our economy”. In his response, Sir Chris said: “We simply cannot afford any degree of complacency in this, there are major criminals operating in this space, as well as some malicious state actors, and some 40% of companies in the UK last year reported that they had faced some kind of cyber attack. “So it is a very important issue that we take seriously.” JLR revealed earlier this week it was “working at pace” to resume operations across manufacturing facilities, although it confirmed its retail partners “remain open”. The firm emphasised there was “no evidence” that any customer data had been compromised during the breach. Sir Chris vowed to offer “every possible support” to JLR and other firms within its supply chain. Conservative former defence secretary Sir Gavin Williamson, who represents Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge, said: “The attack on JLR is not the first of its kind, and it certainly won’t be the last of its kind, and you will see increasingly state actors using criminal gangs, whether originating from Russia, North Korea, Iran, using this as a way of getting hard cash into those countries. “What more can the minister and the state do to really support our businesses with the robust type of defence that’s required because they are fighting states, and they need to have this state right behind them?”. Sir Chris stated the Government must “need to keep our eyes very wide open” to “the fact that there are undoubtedly foreign state actors who want to interfere in our businesses”. The minister has issued a stern warning to businesses and organisations about the risk of ransomware attacks, where criminals seize data and demand money for its return. Sir Chris stated: “Paying the criminals doesn’t get you out of the hole. They’re not to be trusted, and people should be extremely cautious. “We do not recommend in any circumstances, people paying ransomware. It doesn’t solve the problem, and what it actually does is it adds to the business model of these criminals, and it’s the criminals we want to see behind bars.” Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, who as father of the House of Commons is the longest-serving male MP, said he was an “enthusiast” over the Government looking at digital ID cards to prevent illegal migrants working in the UK, but warned it “raises a whole new spectre” with the exposure of personal data. Sir Chris added: “Data is a wonderful thing. It’s a gold mine in many ways, but it’s also a potential vulnerability. “We need to make sure that if we’re going to take people into a digital future with digital ID cards, which I’m not saying that we are, but if we were to go down that route, or wherever we go, for instance, with a digital driving licence, which we’ll have soon, we just need to make sure that it is safe, secure, and people’s data isn’t in peril.”