Attacks on manufacturing up but less than half businesses are prepared

A new study from Omdia finds that 80 percent of manufacturing firms experienced a significant increase in overall security incidents or breaches last year, but only 45 percent are adequately prepared in their cybersecurity.

The survey of over 500 technology executives worldwide shows a heightened risk of cyber attacks comes as manufacturers move to leverage IT such as cloud, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT) as part of their digital transformation -- a process defined as Industry 4.0.

It finds that 70 percent of OT systems are predicted to be connected to corporate (IT) networks by next year and 47 percent of respondents identify Industry 4.0 as the biggest factor driving IT-OT convergence.

Adam Etherington, senior principal analyst at Omdia, says:

Our study illuminates critical attack vectors and lessons learned, and provides timely advice for any executive responsible for IT and OT.

More pervasive connectivity between IT and OT is essential across greenfield and brownfield manufacturing system design and enhancements. Step change improvements to innovation, availability, safety and security require firms to harness cloud, IoT, AI and private networks, with IT/OT convergence bringing these technologies to life.

However, most firms have been hit with expensive outages and security incidents while traditional security controls, policies and culture struggle to keep pace. Given the magnitude of downtime costs from any breach or network incident that impacted operations, it's important to better understand the causes for proactive remediation.

Only 19 percent of manufacturing firms say they are 'advanced' in securing IT/OT -- despite it being fundamental to their core business. It's not too surprising that 42 percent of firms plan to outsource IT/OT security, a figure that rises to 51 percent in USA

You can get the full report from the Omdia site.

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