Zero-day vulnerability, DDoS Attack, Ransomware, Phishing, and SQL Injection — if you don’t know what these terms mean as a leader in industry, consider yourself lucky. These are the most common avenues of cyberattacks against the manufacturing industry, responsible for a whopping $46 billion in losses from 2018 to 2023.
The blissful days of a one-and-done solution for cybersecurity are over. Manufacturing systems operating on an Industrial Internet of Things brings a new level of OT and IT complexity, requiring cybersecurity systems to evolve alongside. More so, employers have inherited with technological progress a heavy responsibility to educate themselves and their workforce on new cyber threats. Over 80% of cyber attacks stem from human error.
The risk extends to the business model as well: Cyber criminals, aware of manufacturing’s terse deadlines and expensive downtimes, see the industry as a ripe target for exploitation. Data demonstrates this, showing 60% of manufacturers in 2023 were willing to pay the ransom in a ransomware attack. This contributes to a vicious cycle of more bad actors focusing on attacking the manufacturing industry for monetary gain. Another area of the manufacturing industry ripe for cyber-attacks is its supply chain and workflow. With so much data shared between companies and continents, cyber-attacks are becoming more adept at infiltrating larger organizations through their supply chain.
Leaders in industry must ask themselves what will be the tipping point where they buck the fear of competition to collaborate on solutions that will address these issues? Automation Alley in partnership with Kelly plans to kickstart this discourse, fostering a space where cybersecurity issues can be discussed freely and with consideration among manufacturers, academia, and government.
This playbook aims to identify major cybersecurity threats and routes of attack, develop a game plan to incorporate cybersecurity strategies that protect companies from inside and outside attacks, and explore new strategies in training and educating the workforce at large in cybersecurity.
We are honored to take on this responsibility and provide the platform for this important dialogue. Creating a stronger cybersecurity future will not happen in silos. An industry-wide problem requires an industry-wide solution. Let us forge the first steps together.
Read the Integr8 Playbook, "Creating a Secure Future: Navigating Cybersecurity Resilience," in full here.
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