With digital transformation, new possibilities can be achieved that were previously considered impossible. However, it has also raised concerns about the growth of cyber incidents in the manufacturing sector. As per the data by IBM X-Force, 25.75% of all global cyber incidents involve the manufacturing sector.
According to the research by Aberdeen Strategy & Research, the unplanned downtime in the manufacturing sector can cost up to 260,000 dollars per hour. This signifies a single cyberattack can result in operational and production disruptions. Due to these issues, the manufacturing sector faces reputational damage and heavy financial losses. This highlights the need for proper cybersecurity awareness training to make manufacturing staff aware.
In this blog, we will be understanding about the need for cybersecurity awareness in the manufacturing sector.
Insider Cyberthreats
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements
The manufacturing industry has faced increasing cyberattacks due to which supply chain, and production issues are widely faced. So, it’s essential to meet modern cybersecurity requirements to strengthen cybersecurity posture in the manufacturing industry. To fulfill these modern requirements, we need to understand the top key statistics of the manufacturing industry.
According to the reports by IBM, the average cost of cyberattacks in the manufacturing sector was $5.56 million which resulted in data loss, downtimes and reputational damages.
Source: IBM
It’s been found that manufacturing forms on average take around 199 days for cyber threat identification and 73 days to contain the breaches which is longer than global averages of 194 days and 64 days respectively.
Source: IBM
Due to testing delays, downtimes, and warranty issues around 35% of ICS vulnerabilities remain unpatched
Source: infosecurity Magazine
According to research, it has been found out that 80% of manufacturers have critical vulnerabilities.
Source: Manufacturing.net
There is a need for separate networks for office systems and factory machinery to prevent the spread of malware on both systems.
To add an extra layer of security, manufacturing needs to implement MFA on confidential production data or solutions related to remote access.
To enhance employee’s threat identification and responding capabilities, there is a need to train on cyberattack simulations like TSAT.
For interactivity and enhancing training completion retention, the manufacturing sector can adopt TLMS for a gamified security awareness approach.
For preventing domain spoofing, phishing emails and BEC attacks which target suppliers or customers can be prevented using complete email security solutions such as TDMARC.
There is a need to block USB drives and portable devices to avoid malware infections.
It is necessary to isolate older machines which cannot be updated or patched and monitor them for unusual activities.
The Manufacturing Industry needs to ensure its logistics provider, vendors and maintenance staff follow cybersecurity best practices.
With the digital revolution and AI advancements, there is a need to focus on the cybersecurity aspect as well, especially in the manufacturing sector. This industry needs to focus on providing role-based training to their office employees and factory staff. To solve these issues, manufacturers can adopt Threatcop security awareness training solutions to reduce the risk of modern cyberattacks. Solutions such as TSAT, TLMS, and TDMARC help in providing phishing simulations, interactive training and protecting outbound email communication. By using these modern awareness solutions, manufacturing industries can keep their employees ready to deal with evolving cyber threats.
Cybersecurity in manufacturing refers to protecting factory systems, machines and important manufacturing industry data from attackers.
The use of outdated systems can be major reason due to which the manufacturing sector is easily targeted by hackers which results in downtime and the need to face heavy losses.
Cyberattacks in the manufacturing sector can lead to operational disruptions, production halts and data breaches.
Provide awareness training to the employees, always keep systems up to date and establish a culture of security awareness to prevent cyberattacks.
The manufacturing industry need to follow standards such as NIST, IEC 62443 and ISO 27001 which are commonly used.
Yes, if they are running on old versions of software. Attackers can take advantage of vulnerabilities and flaws present in the system.
Technical Content Writer at Threatcop
Milind Udbhav is a cybersecurity researcher and technology enthusiast. As a Technical Content Writer at Threatcop, he uses his research experience to create informative content which helps audience to understand core concepts easily.
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