According to a Fortinet survey, 80 percent of manufacturers experienced at least one security incident in which unauthorized parties had access to data.

Last year, 80 percent of companies in the manufacturing industry experienced a security incident in which unauthorized persons had access to data. Fifteen percent even experienced six or more incidents. Particular culprits are phishing, spyware and ransomware. Fortinet comes to this conclusion based on a limited study conducted in collaboration with the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation that surveyed 155 organizations in the United States.

Today, 78 percent of respondents rank cybersecurity among their top five risks. Surprisingly, 22 percent don’t, and we wonder what five other things could also bring their business down. There is progress, as in 2020 only 70 percent of respondents were aware of the seriousness of cyber threats.

More ransomware

36 percent of the admittedly modest respondents fell victim to ransomware last year. That is significantly more than 23 percent in 2020. Criminals have now realized that manufacturing companies can be paralyzed by a cyber attack and paying a ransom is sometimes an attractive way out for victims.

Fortinet cites the lack of communication between IT and OT as one of the causes of the problems. In addition, production companies work with outdated equipment. Systems that are twenty years old are no exception and cannot be easily patched. Finally, it is not always possible to find the right talent to manage security risks.